“Apple has acquired Chomp, which is a two-year-old start-up whose main product is an in-depth app store search for both the Apple App Store and the Android Market,” Damon Brown reports for PCWorld.
“Chomp helps users search for and discover new apps not only by name, but also by topic and by app function,” Brown reports. “For example, you can type in “puzzle games” or “chat apps” to discover apps you may not have previously known about.”
Brown reports, “The App Store is only useful if you know exactly what you’re looking for. For example, it’s a great resource if someone tells you about a specific app to download, because you can pull that app up right away. However, with Chomp integration, the App Store could become a whole new animal. It could actually make searching for apps a pleasurable experience.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Brawndo Drinker” for the heads up.]
Related article:
Apple buys app search startup Chomp for $50 million – February 24, 2012
At last. This will be handy.
Really!? I thought Apple bought it to make a faster processor. Breaking news … Bananas are yellow and looking at the sun can hurt your eyes. Stay tuned.
Maybe they bought it to help the board learn which developers to acquire next. Tummy wants to go shopping.
But will it weed out the crApps?
The big question is whether Apple will allow the likes of Verizon continue using it on their Android Store.
Why would Apple do that? This acquisition is a double whammy in that Apple could improve its App Store while making things worse for the Android market.
Given that Apple seeks to destroy Android the answer should be pretty obvious.
Seeks to destroy? haha I’m pretty sure steve promised Thermonuclear death for Android.
I’ve never understood why Apple didn’t put more into the online app shopping experience. Perhaps they knew someday someone would come along with a “better mousetrap”. Plus, The app store was doing phenomenally good as it was. I always found it frustrating with browsing for an app, when all I knew was a function or feature that I was seeking.
Agree 100%. But I was amazed at some of the recommendations that came from the Genius feature. I know it’s not the same as what Chomp does, but I think it’s an underutilized feature of the App Store (and the other iTunes stores).
Chomp CEO Ben Keighran is reportedly working already in Apple’s marketing department, and CTO Cathy Edwards is already employed as a senior iTunes engineer. (CultoftheMac)
Both Aussies, BTW.
@MDN, @David
Very important! Maybe this will fix the sub-par implementation of review filtering (first by AppleStore!, then by other criteria).
Please, Apple, allow at least (configurable) filtering by language or by character set, because in small countries the previews are basically nonexistent and its statistics are irrelevant because of minimal sample size.
Could have been fixed without buying Chomp, though. But I welcome any improvement in search experience.
“the appstore is only good if you know exactly what you are looking for”
thats not true — it has search – its not perfect
the appstore in iTunes is also got some strange issues remembering what page you were viewing
BUT all in all it has search… type in “racing” and you get a myriad of choices…
I think Chomp will be used far greater then those mere suggested improvements… SIRI search for apps on the APP STORE who about that… see.
Or better – SIRI search fro yr favourite tv channel and show to air at 9 – Chomp will have a part in Apple iTV search.
I can’t help but wonder who is right this minute digging through dusty filing cabinets, looking for some vaguely applicable patent for “searching for apps on a computer device” with which to sue Apple for.