Google looks to build on Apps with Quickoffice buy

Google has acquired mobile productivity firm Quickoffice in a bid to bolster its Apps platform.

The company said that it had completed its purchase of the mobile document editing tool maker for an undisclosed sum.

The London-based firm, which also has offices in India and Seoul, develops tools which allow users to view and edit Microsoft Office documents on mobile devices. Supported platforms include iOS, Android and Symbian.

"We are ushering in a new chapter with Google," said Quickoffice co-founder and chief executive Alan Masarek.

"By combining the magic of Google's intuitive solutions with Quickoffice's powerful products, our shared vision for anytime, anywhere productivity can only grow."

While Google is providing little detail on its strategic plans for the Quickoffice team, the company said that the first result of the acquisition would be a port of Quickoffice products for the Google Apps suite.

"Today, consumers, businesses and schools use Google Apps to get stuff done from anywhere, with anyone and on any device," the company said in announcing the acquisition.

"Quickoffice has an established track record of enabling seamless interoperability with popular file formats, and we'll be working on bringing their powerful technology to our Apps product suite."

Google's acquisition comes as Microsoft is preparing to push Office onto tablets with a native version of the productivity suite. The mobile version of Office will be offered as a bundled package with the Windows 8 RT package on ARM hardware.