The fact that I’ve been silent for some time, doesn’t mean that the Spanish internet isn’t churning up stories. In fact, there are quiet a few. I’ll start with the latest and for many one of the most impressive. If anything, it’s a good sign for Spain and will have plenty of local internet entrepreneurs on their toes. During Google’s Developer Day 2007 held on May 31st, a local acquisition was announced in Madrid. Google has agreed to acquire Panoramio, a small, but certainly very ambitious and successful Alicante based company.
The official announcements can be found in Google’s Blog as well as Panoramio’s. The Spanish blogosphere is buzzing with the news. Panoramio is based on Google Earth. The gist of it’s utility and it’s main attraction is that Panaromio allows users to associate photos with locations. This way, users help create and share a have a photographic atlas of the world. Panoramio has been working closely with Google Earth for over a year, integrating Panoramio as a layer into Google Earth. A very logical and visually exciting extension of Google Earth, which has in turn helped Panoramio grow their database. The acquisition is also timely with the integration of Streetside views.
According to Eduardo Manchon of Panoramio, “The integration of photos from Panoramio in Google Earth has been so successful since John Hanke suggested it that we see the acquisition of Panoramio as a natural consequence. We have tightened our relationship with Google Earth more and more in recent months, and at the end we decided to walk one step further. After so much work together, honestly, we couldn’t imagine a better scenario than selling Panoramio to Google.”
As far as I know the the amount that Panoramio was acquired for has not been disclosed by neither of the two parties. Whatever the amount is, the acquisition is certainly motivational for hundreds of other Spanish start-ups—Google doesn’t have a blind spot for Spain.
There’s an official Q&A posted by Google. Take a look. Better yet, experiment with Panoramio.
Marina Zaliznyak
Latest posts by Marina Zaliznyak (see all)
- Google to Acquire Spanish owned and started Panoramio - June 3, 2007
- Ask.com behind the Anti-Google campaign - March 18, 2007
- Ya.com reveals their own video and photo sharing services—YaTV and YaShoot - March 18, 2007
