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janrinok writes:

Google has acquired Polar [itworld.com], a company that specializes in online polls that allows its customers to get "instant opinions on anything," reports ITWorld.

The deal was announced on Polar's website and Dave Bresbis, vice president of engineering for Google+, welcomed the addition of Polar's staff to his team in a Google+ post. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Polar has been used by various companies to gather audience opinion on a wide variety of topics. Polar customers have used the website to ask whether they think WhatsApp is worth $16 billion, if they would rather buy a new Apple Mac Pro or a PC-based equivalent or if Apple made a smart move to release a public beta of OS X Yosemite.

Polar's polls can be are meant to increase engagement with audiences on sites and apps. "We're a mobile-first mix of photo slideshows and lightweight participation -- perfect for today's world of instant interactions," it said on its site.

Now, I can't see how this fits in with the rest of Google's portfolio - anyone got any ideas?

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