After an initial report last week claiming that Apple was in moves to acquire song ID app Shazam, the tech giant has confirmed the move in an official statement:
“We are thrilled that Shazam and its talented team will be joining Apple. Since the launch of the App Store, Shazam has consistently ranked as one of the most popular apps for iOS. Today, it’s used by hundreds of millions of people around the world, across multiple platforms. Apple Music and Shazam are a natural fit, sharing a passion for music discovery and delivering great music experiences to our users. We have exciting plans in store, and we look forward to combining with Shazam upon approval of today’s agreement.”
A price for the acquisition was not disclosed, however various sources have hinted at a price around $400 million. It’s believed that Shazam was also in talks with Snap, Inc. and Spotify about possible acquisitions.
Shazam released its own statement, as well:
“We are excited to announce that Shazam has entered into an agreement to become part of Apple. Shazam is one of the highest rated apps in the world and loved by hundreds of millions of users and we can’t imagine a better home for Shazam to enable us to continue innovating and delivering magic for our users.”
Shazam runs on song identification and direction, so it’s very likely that Apple will somehow integrate its streaming service with the app even further, giving users a direct line to stream the music they’ve just discovered. And with Shazam’s deep analytics tools, it could potentially give Apple the opportunity to create a sort of social network within the app – not to the degree of Facebook or Instagram, but something where users can share results between their friends, sure.
And don’t forget, Shazam can also recognize TV shows, movies, and other media content, giving it an edge on augmented reality. With Apple’s deep pockets, it could perhaps incentivize the Shazam team to dig more deeply into that realm.
via Tech Crunch
