How was decided and negotiated the purchase of Nik Software?
It all worked very well. I cannot enter into the details of the transaction as you can guess. But sometimes there are meetings of industrial good which allows you to see a future in which corresponds the desire of the two entities, and that is what has happened here between Google and DxO and which has led us to acquire a product whose Google wanted to get rid of.
Is Snapseed is part of the agreement?
Not in any way Snapseed remains the property of Google and we have only acquired he Desktop part.
Now how do you see the future and the integration among DxO of the collection Nik?
We have two tracks of integration. The first which is already effective is the integration of the U-point technology in the new DxO Photolab, formerly DxO Optics Pro. We have built new tools and in particular the Equilazer. This allows us to enter into another dimension with a software more and more complete and even very complete with the the most powerful algorhytmes in the world for the Global treatments. For the second track which concerns more particularly with the plugins, we will wait for the next year. The Nik Collection stays downloadable free of charge, but we have some big changes in the middle of next year for a perfect integration with the latest OS, all the latest platforms on which operate these plugins which will become Nik by DxO 2018
How will be the integration of the functionality of your two ranges of products? Is it by example of the functionality of the Silver Efex or Color Efex be integrated to DxO film pack?
It is still too early to say and precisely for this kind of decisions, we hope to receive as many opinions as possible from professional or amateur users. The crosstalk between the two ranges will be effective, but we do not yet know in which direction
How do you see the future of DxO against competing companies such as MacPhun, Topaz Labs or on1 which represents the biggest part of the competition with Adobe.
The acquisition of a product with such a reputation and a colossal number of users propels us into another dimension and the reputation associated with this product is exceptional. During the presentation of the purchase of Nik at the Photo Plus exhibition in New York was wonderfully welcomed. Google caused a lot of trouble last June when the announcement of the abandonment of the Nik Collection and users are excited about the possible arrival of new updates.
Will there be new versions of software like Viewpoint which is an exceptional tool for architectural photographers like me?
All this is a little suspended because of or thanks to the acquisition of Nik. Once again we do not know for sure how the two ranges will be mixed.
Many photographers now prefer to use all-in-one applications like MacPhun Luminar or On1 Photo Raw. Do you intend to go in that direction?
We are extremely attentive to this evolution of the market and expect to see how this evolution will become clearer. That’s why user reviews are important for this type of decision. We create products for as many people as possible and these opinions and your questions help us making the right decisions. In any case, it is an evolution that we must take into account.
How to break down the activity of DxO?
That’s about a third for each of our domains which are the software, the Benchmark and the DxO ONE camera
Concerning DxO ONE, is it a product that satisfies you and how are sales given a fairly high price?
DxO ONE has become one of our flagship products and its price is not really high if we look at products of the same range among our competitors who are on average twice as expensive. We use an exceptional sensor made by Sony that produces pixels 5 to 7 times larger than those produced by the best smartphones. The optics designed by DxO is also exceptional. Our Benchmark activity allowed us to make all these comparisons and the results obtained by this device are fabulous. We are also working on the Android version that will allow us to reach an even wider audience. The future looks bright for DXO ONE.
