Tuesday, April 17th, 2007 by Andy Beal

4

Google Acquires Tonic Systems; Promises PowerPoint Alternative by Summer

Google has announced the acquisition of Tonic Systems, which will help it to launch a PowerPoint competitor by the summer.

According to the official Google blog…

Tonic, which we’ve just acquired, is based in San Francisco and Melbourne, Australia. They have some great technology for presentation creation and document conversion, and it will be a great addition as we add presentation sharing and collaboration capabilities to Google Docs & Spreadsheets.

Nathan managed to get hold of the following screenshot…

When asked by John Battelle, at the Web 2.0 conference, if Google Docs & Spreadsheets would compete with Microsoft, CEO Eric Schmidt replied, “We don’t think so. It doesn’t have all the functionality, nor is it intended to have the functionality of products like Microsoft Office.”

You have to give Battelle props for voicing what we all think…

“Come on! It’s a competitor to Microsoft Office,” Battelle said, prompting a round of applause from a concurring audience. “This provides (people) with a free alternative, which has got to be considered a threat” to Microsoft.

It’s not clear why Google would acquire Tonic, when it has been rumored to be developing its own presentation technology. A comment from a TechCrunch reader may shed some light…

In November 2006, I saw this product being used in meetings at Google…It’s been in development for quite some time now, although it was still very bare-bones then. It sounds like their recent acquisition of Tonic was made for some essential technology component (probably “Download as PowerPoint” or something) — Tonic won’t be in charge of building the core product- that one should mainly be ready and in testing now.

The Google juggernaut continues to roll. But remember, Google’s not a threat to anyone, honestly!


Social Media Monitoring in Just 60-Seconds. Guaranteed!

Similar Stories in: M&A | Forward: Email This Post

Share this post

Share on TwitterStumble This!Bookmark on DeliciousShare on FriendFeedDigg This!Share on Facebook

 

 

Similar posts you may like...

4 comments on “Google Acquires Tonic Systems; Promises PowerPoint Alternative by Summer”

  1. Google Office Applications Finally Complete » SELaplana Says:

    April 17th, 2007 at 11:49 pm

    [...] Andy asked why Google acquire Tonic when in fact Google is building its own technology. And my answer is: It’s because Google failed to build a Presentation app without using the technology of the Tonic System. Google simply wants to produce best result, best presentation software. Garett has this idea: You can technically create and read Microsoft Office compatible documents — but the formatting is not reliable between the two. It appears that Tonic may have the answer to this problem after looking closer at the company. [...]

  2. Google web office - jau pilnas paketas? Says:

    April 18th, 2007 at 6:36 am

    [...] Netyla kalbos, kad Google jau užpildÄ— savo Web office paketÄ… trÅ«kstamu presentacijų kÅ«rimo įrankiu ir stiprina konkurencijÄ… su M$ Office. Nors Erikas Å mitas (Eric Schmidt) Web 2.0 konferencijoje buvo užklaustas, ar Google Docs & Spreadsheets konkuruos su Micro$oft bandÄ— tai paneigti: “We don’t think so. It doesn’t have all the functionality, nor is it intended to have the functionality of products like Microsoft Office.“. [...]

  3. Brian Says:

    April 18th, 2007 at 2:50 pm

    How soon before Google Database comes along? Eric Schmidt, you can just mail me a check for this idea :)

    It could be something that competes with Access, but you can train Googler’s to say “It doesn’t have all the functionality, nor is it intended to have the functionality of products like Microsoft Access.”

    Maybe Publisher next?

  4. Google web office - jau pilnas paketas? | MARiUS GRiCiUS Says:

    April 3rd, 2008 at 8:52 am

    [...] kalbos, kad Google jau užpildė savo Web office paketą trūkstamu presentacijų kūrimo įrankiu ir [...]