RIM Acquires Documents to Go: Will Your Productivity Benefit?
Research in Motion confirmed last week that they acquired a large part of DataViz, maker of the Documents To Go application. "RIM has acquired some of the assets of DataViz and hired the majority of its employees to focus on supporting the BlackBerry platform."
Documents To Go is a popular application for mobile users that allows for editing Microsoft Office documents on a smartphone. If you haven't tried it yet, it's worth looking into as you might see a productivity benefit. Documents To Go currently supports a number of platforms, including the iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Maemo, PalmOS and Windows Mobile. Documents to Go sells at Apple's App Store for $9.99 and $14.99 for the standard and premium versions, respectively. The application supports Powerpoint, Excel and Word documents. PCMag endorsed Documents To Go Premium for the iPhone, selecting it as an Editors' Choice.
The software is popular in part because it allows the user to edit files on their phone, even if the phone does not have the ability to otherwise run Microsoft Office. Not only does Documents To Go have the ability to allow you to run Office, it is designed to retain the proper formatting after you edit it. For a busy attorney on the road, such functionality can be a major lift and a significant productivity benefit.
Many are questioning whether RIM, maker of the BlackBerry, will continue developing Documents To Go for multiple platforms, or take it in a new direction and limit it only to RIM devices.
According to Wired.com, the deal was reported Friday by Crackberry.com, for $50m in cash, shortly after DataViz had announced that they were canceling development for Palm.
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