Apple acquires song identifying app Shazam for undisclosed sum
Apple on Monday confirmed that it has purchased popular service Shazam, an app that listens for and identifies songs. It was rumored that the deal was for about $400 million, but no official sale price was given.
Apple announced the acquisition in a statement to BuzzFeed News, noting that Shazam has consistently been one of the most popular applications available to download on the iOS App Store. The company said that Shazam boasts hundreds of millions of users around the world on multiple platforms.
"Apple Music and Shazam are a natural fit, sharing a passion for music discovery and delivering great music experiences to our users," Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr said. "We have exciting plans in store, and we look forward to combining with Shazam upon approval of today's agreement."
It remains to be seen what, exactly, Apple plans to do with Shazam. While it has a standalone app, the company also integrates with Siri, Apple's voice-driven personal assistant.
Word first surfaced last Friday that Apple was close to buying Shazam. It was said that the price was about $401 million -- a significant discount from the $1 billion the company was valued at in its last funding round in 2015.
Shazam started life in the UK in 1999 as a product called 2580, named after the number users had to dial to reach the service via text. Since its debut on the iOS App Store, and subsequently Mac App Store, Shazam has evolved into a comprehensive audio fingerprinting service that allows users to identify songs, movies, TV shows and other media by capturing short audio segments.
Currently, Shazam features integration with a number of music services, including iTunes and Apple Music. While iTunes hooks feature simple track purchasing options, Apple Music subscribers can use Shazam to quickly add identified songs and to a customized playlist.
Apple announced the acquisition in a statement to BuzzFeed News, noting that Shazam has consistently been one of the most popular applications available to download on the iOS App Store. The company said that Shazam boasts hundreds of millions of users around the world on multiple platforms.
"Apple Music and Shazam are a natural fit, sharing a passion for music discovery and delivering great music experiences to our users," Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr said. "We have exciting plans in store, and we look forward to combining with Shazam upon approval of today's agreement."
It remains to be seen what, exactly, Apple plans to do with Shazam. While it has a standalone app, the company also integrates with Siri, Apple's voice-driven personal assistant.
Word first surfaced last Friday that Apple was close to buying Shazam. It was said that the price was about $401 million -- a significant discount from the $1 billion the company was valued at in its last funding round in 2015.
Shazam started life in the UK in 1999 as a product called 2580, named after the number users had to dial to reach the service via text. Since its debut on the iOS App Store, and subsequently Mac App Store, Shazam has evolved into a comprehensive audio fingerprinting service that allows users to identify songs, movies, TV shows and other media by capturing short audio segments.
Currently, Shazam features integration with a number of music services, including iTunes and Apple Music. While iTunes hooks feature simple track purchasing options, Apple Music subscribers can use Shazam to quickly add identified songs and to a customized playlist.
Comments
interested to see how Apple will integrate the AR technology.....probably in a way that most people are not expecting....i love this acquisition
"...Without looking deeply at Beats' internal financial information, we can't evaluate the terms of the deal in detail but there's nothing especially unorthodox about paying $3 billion for a company with $1 billion in revenue."
The ShazApple AR implementation can be the next big step in marketing, shopping and buying everything... anything!
The ShazApple tags can replace UPC/BarCodes, QR-Codes, etc.
The ShazApple tags can be physically placed on separate tags, built-in to the product/label -- or virtually displayed on menus, maps, web sites...
They can be sent via iMessage/texts, email, etc... tag me instead of text me... (more info than in an emoji)
This gonna' be really, really big!
What I believe is that Tim Cook is very good at managing the money side of a company.
Apple looked at the value of Beats not only in terms of tech but also with the value of celebrities using Beats products which is not only free advertising but also links Apple with customers in a younger demographic.
I'm sure Apple considered all of that before making the Beats deal.
As far as Shazam is concerned, I'm hoping Apple announces something new and exciting from this acquisition. Shazam is already highly integrated in iOS so not sure what else they can do with it. Unless it's interested in Billy Batson's AR tech.
That said, Apple has an excellent track record of only plopping down hundreds of millions in acquisitions when they’re very sure it will be a huge boon to their bottom line. so I have no doubt that Apple has this mapped out.
Beats was pretty obvious when you look at their popularity, revenue, and profits.
So if we assume AR is coming in an Apple-y way that isn’t a gimmick, how would they do that? How could they do that?
For starters, I think the app will go by the way side and the service will be fully baked into iOS.
Beyond that, I couldn't tell you what else Apple could and will do, but something big I'm sure.