The other day it was rumored that Apple could be looking to acquire music recognition service Shazam. As it turns out the rumors were true because Apple has since confirmed the acquisition to the folks at 9to5Mac. As expected they did not dive into the details of the acquisition, save for saying that they have “exciting plans” in store.In a statement released to 9to5Mac confirming the acquisition, “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.”
We should point out that Apple and Shazam have had a working relationship prior to this, where Apple baked Shazam’s functionality into Siri, thus allowing users to ask Siri to identify songs instead of having to launch the app. Shazam’s functionality also evolved over the years, where it was later able to recognize TV shows and movies too.
It is unclear what Apple plans to do with Shazam, and whether or not there are plans to keep the app around or sunset it. From what we can tell based on previous Apple acquisitions, the company usually ends up killing off the app and service, like when they acquired Workflow and Beats Music.
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