Other result: Google avoids any and all criticism of having shuttered another product, but they probably lose money on the overall purchase and sale. Trimble gets a tremendous bargain on a very established product that could be used to build their ancillary business. Unlike Google, SketchUp will be a core competency to Trimble. Result: SketchUp development should benefit greatly from owners that can devote real focus to the product.
Other option: Sell SketchUp, probably for next to nothing, heavily tied up in contracts that keep free versions available and forbid Trimble from ever selling it to Google's competition. It would firmly seal the premise that Google (like Microsoft and Apple) buys great products just to kill them. The heat they'd take from shuttering SketchUp would wholly eclipse that of Google's previous end-of-lifes. Not only from the tech press, but probably the general press as well. Result: Google takes another round of heat, this time massive. The revenue it brings in is so insignificant to their bottom line that it's just not something on which Google wants to keep employees focused. SketchUp is a tiny speck of dust within Google's ever-growing empire. Reuters is reporting that the deal is expected to close in Q2 2012. The repository, alongside other communities such as Thingiverse, has proven increasingly invaluable in recent years for amateur modelers with low-cost 3D printers at home.
Worried amateurs can rest easy, however "The free version of SketchUp is an important part of our world as well," wrote Bacus, "and that isn’t changing in the least."Īccording to Trimble, the two companies will continue to work together in maintaining Google's 3D Warehouse, a popular repository of user contributed 3D models that are offered freely for anyone to download and use.
Google currently offers SketchUp for free on its website, in addition to a Pro version priced at $495, targeted at modeling industry professionals. Google bought SketchUp when it was just a small startup called Software in 2006, founded with the goal of "bringing 3D modeling to everyone." Today, it boasts millions of users, with 30 million SketchUp activations "in just the last year," according to Bacus. Trimble hopes the addition will help extend its reach in such industries as architecture and construction, where its mapping, geolocation, navigation, and surveying equipment are already well established.
In a blog post today, Product Manager John Bacus revealed the popular 3D modeling platform had been sold to Trimble Navigation Ltd. Heads-up, modelers, designers, and makers of things: Google's SketchUp is getting a new home.