The acquisition of LiveLoop by Microsoft has been confirmed for an undisclosed amount, making it the third notable app-specific start-up, after the popular email app Accompli and Android calender app maker Sunrise, Redmond has acquired recently. LiveLoop is a San Francisco-based web service that converts PowerPoint presentations into Web URLs, that can be shared on any device and collaborated on in real time with a team – without the need to install software, such as other services GoToMeeting or join.me. The company formed in 2010.

A notice on LiveLoop’s webpage today states, “LiveLoop will be shutting down permanently on April 24th, 2015. New user registration and presentation upload have been disabled.Existing LiveLoop users: if you have any data you would like to retrieve from LiveLoop, please do so before April 24th. On April 24th, all presentations and user data will be permanently deleted.”

Although the deal has been confirmed by Microsoft the company is yet to release any details. In an email to VentureBeat however Microsoft did state that it is looking forward to working with the LiveLoop team across Office applications in an effort to “reinvent productivity”.

LiveLoop, that has the financial support of venture capital firms New Enterprise Associates and Columbus Nova Technology Partners, should fit in nicely with Microsoft’s collaboration software, and also its new interactive videoconferencing technology, the massive digital whiteboard Surface Hub.  Microsoft is presently against tough opposition from Google and Apple in the collaborative productivity space, Apple with its iWork, and Google with Google Docs. If Microsoft wants to stay ahead in the productivity game, acquisitions such as these are a step in the right direction.

Photo credit: Gareth Saunders via photopin cc