Google has added the Picnik photo-editing to its string of recent acquisitions.   The price paid for the small company was not disclosed.    Google already owns Picasa which it bought back in 2004, which offers some similar photo organizing and enhancing features.    Picnik further enhances Google’s abilities with the service which supports the ability to import photos from Flickr, owned by Yahoo, as well as from Facebook.   "Picnik [is] one of the first sites to bring photo editing to the cloud," Brian Axe, product management director at Google, blogged. "Using Picnik, you can crop, do touch-ups and add cool effects to your photos, all without leaving your Web browser.  The first step will be integration of the product with Google.

The photo handling arena is already crowded with major players including Yahoo’s Flickr, Fox Interactive Media’s Photobucket and Adobe’s new online version of Photoshop which is available for free.   Perhaps Google sees this acquisition as complimentary to its push into social networking.  So far Google has not disclosed any future plans for Picnik’s premium features which start at $2.08 per month.

Related Links:

http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3867966/Google+Snaps+Up+Picnik.htm

http://www.pcworld.com/article/190562/google_buys_picnik_6_unanswered_questions.html