“Apple Inc., the world’s most valuable company, acquired San Francisco-based Chomp Inc., which helps users sort through the widening array of software applications for mobile devices,” Adam Satariano and Douglas MacMillan report for Bloomberg.
“The Cupertino, California-based company paid about $50 million for Chomp, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the specifics are private,” Satariano and MacMillan report. “Apple confirmed the deal yesterday, without disclosing the purchase price.”
Satariano and MacMillan report, “Chomp’s software lets people search through the hundreds of thousands of downloadable applications available for Apple’s iPad and iPhone, as well as gadgets running Google Inc.’s Android operating system. Users can enter queries such as “tip calculator” or “kids games” to get different options of apps that fit those descriptions… Chomp’s investors include BlueRun Ventures, SV Angel founder Ron Conway, Aydin Senkut, David Lee, Brian Pokorny and Auren Hoffman. Actor Ashton Kutcher is a marketing adviser for the company, according to Chomp’s website. The company also is a partner with Verizon Wireless, which uses Chomp’s search technology in its app store.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Attribution: The Register. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “abcd” for the heads up.]
Chump change.
Or in this case, chomp change.
Boom! How in the world did I miss that?!
Eh, Ashton Kutcher. Hope Apple paid a little extra to not acquire/exclude his services going forward.
Kutcher went to MIT where he learned how to act.
What’s not to like?
He’s no dummy. Played his cards right using Demi Moor for publicity and aiding him up the Hollywood career ladder. Too bad she couldn’t see that.
Wish you could go back and correct typo’s here…. Moore
You don’t think that he liked Demi Moore? It was purely a cynical career play?
I think she’s attractive and likeable enough, but I think there were also bonus points in the background that looked good too. She’s always been well respected in Hollywood so the contacts can’t hurt.
So . . . every “mis-matched” couple in Hollywood is based on a desire for publicity and self-promition, eh? Don’t look now, but your cynicism is showing, Raven. (I can’t help wondering what you thought of the Schwarzenegger/Shriver coupling. Must have blown your mind.)
Not every coupling is, but it appeared this one was.
Arnold and Maria was fine with me.
Did they buy it to use it, or to stop it?
to use it.
To stop it (in the case of android apps)
I like the irony of Apple selling ads on android devices; taking revenue from google.
No, Apple will use it. Spending $50 million to stop one app search product is a complete waste of money; something Apple wouldn’t do. Another app search product could pop up tomorrow, so will Apple spend $50 million to silence it? Don’t think so.
I use the app and it’s quite good, will be great if they make it part of the App store, maybe using with Siri
Brought on-board to improve the iTunes and App store navigation GUI’s. Perhaps a more functional version of iTunes will emerge.
I have wondered forever why they haven’t implemented a better search system in iTunes. It’s a complete fail. If you don’t type an artist or song name in exactly spelled correctly chances are it won’t find it for you.
If you want to search by lyrics, forget it. Use an Internet search engine like yahoo or bing or duckduckgo.
The next wave of iTunes search will include searching by humming a tune, called a hummer search.
Purse your lips now….
The app SoundHound can do this already.
A friend was trying to tell me about a song from the 80s I’d never heard of, we decided to see how their “hum a song to ID it” claim stacked up, and it got it right despite us being in an outside (but not too noisy) pub patio, and her humming a bit off.
This would be a neat Siri feature though… “Siri, what song sounds like this: ” or “what song includes these lyrics”
Is Chomp run by a chimp called Kutchner? In which case will Apple’s purchase make it run like a champ?
Only time will tell if the chump change paid by Apple will turn the waters red by chumming it so the sharks at Google will get gargled.
Get a new app search Fandroids. 😜
No need as there are not enough android apps available to require an advanced searching tool 😉
Apple will turn this little purchase into a chomping monster – google, be warned.
The talent they acquired with Chomp are already working to integrate it into the App Store, and the result will be another inflationary jump in sales. Do you remember the “windfall of new digital subscriptions” when Newsstand was introduced in iOS 5?
Apple is readying the afterburners.
A better comparison would be Apple’s acquisition of Siri.