Google investing in 3D software startup

Google is set to add another company to it’s free flowing roster of acquisitions. Quiksee is a 3D software startup of sorts, whose software means users can port videos and map them as interactive virtual tours resembling 3D panoramas.

Quiksee had no comment, but the sale to Google reportedly went through at $10 million. Speculation says that Quiksee is the missing link in Google Maps and Google Earth, but it’s also one more in an ever increasing string of acquisitions on the part of Google, which doesn’t appear to be letting up.

Peter Kafka over at AllThingsDigital is calling these Google acquisitions ‘acq-hires’ – a company is bought and brought into the Google fold. This is what happened to the pre-Foursquare startup Dodgeball, but the founders left after a couple of years and formed Foursquare, after becoming frustrated with the lack of support from Google.

Which leaves a question: are these Google acquisitions tactical, or is Google really looking to integrate services an software like Quiksee into its offering?

What do you think?

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