Moiseyenkov has been the first to successfully commercialize the technology by capitalizing on existing social media behavior and mobile trends. It is also the fastest such service available — photos are "repainted" within a matter of seconds, rather than the hours required by many of its predecessors. That has been made possible by moving the processing to a cloud on external servers, rather than on users' phones themselves.

By simplifying the technology, Prisma has tapped into a market of billions of app users. 

Seems like a cool app to me. :)

Have you seen the results? Very cool indeed.  Not available for Android yet, alas. 

Also interesting the implications for the Art with the capital "A": Meanwhile, Prisma is causing a stir in the art world, too. "When Prisma appeared, many modern artists sighed a breath of relief," says prominent gallery owner Marat Guelman.

He says the technology used by apps such as Prisma underline what modern artists have argued for decades. "Now that thousands and thousands of images can be created by a program, it's made clear what we already knew: The creation of a beautiful image is not art," he says.

Meanwhile, claims that Prisma's success can help bring about a broader interest in art are far-fetched, says Dmitry Ozerkov, curator of modern art at St. Petersburg's Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg.

"People think they know what Van Gogh is because they can see it on their phone, but such apps infinitely distance people from real art," he says. "You remove all subtleties, all shades and say: Van Gogh is what's on your screen."

"What hangs on the walls of museums is an expensive restaurant, and what's on your phone is fast food," he adds.

That's such a good point that beautiful images are not necessarily art.

That's why it's still so good to visit museums. :)