If you can’t beat em, buy em. That seems to be the message Yahoo is delivering to the market these days after the company on Tuesday acquired Qwiki for a cool $50 million. The buyout marks yet another cash deal for the network that seems bent on buying the technology it wants rather than building it in-house.
Qwiki is an iOS app that allows users to create movies from the photos and videos in their camera roll.
When the service first launched Qwiki automatically curated photos and videos based on popular searches such as Justin Bieber or Lindsay Lohan. The platform would compile a short description of the subject and then create a slideshow of sorts.
In early 2013 Qwiki shifted its focus and re-launched as an iPhone-only app that focused on a users own content.
While the technology originally used to power popular search terms on the web remains in place Qwiki is now focused on the personal video and photo mobile market which is growing rapidly thanks in no small part to Twitter’s Vine platform and Facebook’s recently launched Video on Instagram offering.
Before today’s acquisition by Yahoo the team at Qwiki had raised $10.5M.
The Qwiki app will remain in the Apple iOS App Store and will continue to be support. The Qwiki team will move into Yahoo’s New York Office which is just a few miles away from their current location.
Do you think Yahoo can help Qwiki survive and ultimately thrive in a crowding mobile photo and video sector?
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