Another sign of the importance a certain search giant places on Google Wave came today as the acquisition of a company called AppJet was announced.  AppJet offers a product that mirrors certain aspects of Google Wave, only since it's been around for a little longer, may have one or more legs up.

Here are some of AppJet's vital stats: it was founded in mid-2007.  It's received about $715,000 in funding to date.  And three of the five men listed on an official "Meet the Team" page have worked at Google before.

As for AppJet's main product, the homepage explains, "EtherPad is the only web-based word processor that allows people to work together in really real-time. . . .  The result is a new and productive way to collaborate on text documents, useful for meeting notes, drafting sessions, education, team programming, and more."

It's likely that the best bits and pieces of EtherPad will now be rolled into Google Wave.  The less definite part is how much Google paid for the privilege - no details have been disclosed.

Just the same, Google's other recent acquisitions have involved advertising, VoIP, and mobile businesses, which puts AppJet in pretty important company.

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