tech2 News Staff

Google has made another acquisition and this time, its a Alto-based startup named Pixate, that develops mobile apps prototyping tool. Employees at Pixate will now be joining Google's design team. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.

Pixate made the announcement on its blog and stated that, the Google acquisition will help Pixate expand its service to improve the app development process for many more designers across iOS, Android and other platforms. The company points out that Pixate will continue as a standalone product without any interruption to the service or support.

Post Pixate's deal with Google, the company will be making its Studio product free and is 'dramatically' reducing the cost of its cloud service. In an F.A.Q regarding the acquisition, Pixate stated that its desktop editor for creating Pixate prototypes has been made free. Services available under the company’s previous Premium plan, for example, the creation and editing of prototypes, has been moved over to the desktop product. The company’s cloud service now costs US$5 per designer per month, or $50 per designer per year.

"We don't want to stop there. Our small team at Pixate has some really big ideas, and with the help of Google we'll be able to bring those ideas to the design community at scale,"said Paul Colton, CEO for Pixate. He adds, "We've become an essential part of the workflow for tens of thousands of designers, and are excited about expanding our mission at Google to reach millions of product teams worldwide."