Google will soon be rounding out its collection of web-based office apps with a presentation application, according to Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Schmidt spoke at this week's Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, which is where he announced the company's plans for the presentation app. He did not give a time frame for when the app would be released to the public, but a post on the Official Google Blog confirmed the announcement and said that they expect the app to be released this summer.

Currently, Google Docs & Spreadsheets offers word processing and spreadsheet creation and editing, similar to that of Microsoft Office and other office suites. However, one advantage that Microsoft maintained over Google was the availability of PowerPoint, the nearly ubiquitous presentation creation app that is bundled with most versions of Office. The addition of a Google app to mirror PowerPoint's capabilities will complete the missing link in making Google Docs into something approaching a fully-fledged alternative to Office.

Google will not be building the application from scratch. They instead have acquired Tonic Systems, the creators of Java-based PowerPoint automation products. "They have some great technology for presentation creation and document conversion, and it will be a great addition as we add presentation sharing and collaboration capabilities to Google Docs & Spreadsheets," wrote Engineering Director Sam Schillace on the company's blog.