RIM Acquires Documents To Go Maker DataViz

RIM has confirmed that they have acquired DataViz, the company that makes the popular Documents To Go app for mobile platforms that allows you to open and edit Microsoft Office documents on your phone. They currently support a lot of platforms, but now that RIM owns them, will they shut down all development save for the Blackberry OS?The Digital Daily blog has confirmed that RIM acquired most of the assets and employees of DataViz. Details weren't disclosed on why it was structured as an asset purchase where RIM got to pick and choose what they bought versus a stock purchase where they get the whole company.

Right now, the DataViz site shows versions for the iPhone, iPad, Android platform, Blackberry, Maemo, PalmOS, and Windows Mobile. The app supports Word, Excel and Powerpoint. The trick with this kind of app is to allow the user to edit the file on a phone, which has far less resources than a PC, and retain all formatting in the document even if the phone client doesn't support it. Examples might include Pivot Tables and conditional formatting in Excel or a table of contents in a Word file.

One platform they never supported was WebOS for the Palm Pre/Pixi line even though they supported the older PalmOS for a decade or so. They give a long technical reason for that decision here, but the truth is, WebOS has a small market share right now and isn't growing. Add to that the fact that now RIM owns DataViz, WebOS is now a competitor, so why bother supporting Palm's platform?

Using that same logic, every other non-Blackberry phone is also an instant competitor. You have to wonder if they will continue developing so many different version or if they will focus entirely on RIM's products to make the best Office experience possible for the Blackberry?

Documents To Go is one of the better Office apps for the iOS platform but they certainly aren't the only one. QuickOffice and Office² are just a few of the alternatives. Android also has alternatives like Androffice that works with Google Docs. Windows Mobile and Windows Phone have built in versions of Office apps written by Microsoft.

The bottom line is, for the most part, users have alternatives, though they might have to fork over a few dollars to buy the replacement product. If they already have Documents To Go for their device, even if DataViz dropped support, the app will continue to function just like any other discontinued software.

Is Documents To Go a key app on your device or in your company? If you have devices on platforms other than Blackberry, are you considering alternatives or just hanging out to see what happens in the coming months?