Reports want Apple to be in the final stages of a deal with it service Shazam music finder.
According to initial reports from TechCrunch, the deal could be officially announced this coming Monday. If it eventually happens, the buyout price will be around 400 millions dollars, a number that also confirmed the Recode a bit later. This means a significant discount for a business worth about 1 billion dollars.
Shazam, since the foundation of 2002, has accumulated at least 140 million dollars.
Οι αναφορές για την εξαγορά της εταιρείας ακολουθούν προηγούμενες φήμες που αφορούσαν την Snapchat. Η Snap κατάφερε μια συμφωνία στα τέλη του περασμένου έτους που επέτρεψε στους Snapchatters να χρησιμοποιούν την υπηρεσία Shazam για να βρίσκουν τους καλλιτέχνες τραγουδιών μέσα από την application. But in the end it seems that Apple won. It is currently unclear whether the new agreement will affect these older agreements.
As for the reason behind the acquisition, there are no official statements yet - or any official confirmation from either party.
From visual of Apple, the benefits will be many. The most obvious gain for Apple, although it seems small for a company the size of Apple, is that it will no longer give commissions for users sent to iTunes to buy music through the service.
However, a more tangible benefit could be in the form of additional pressure on competing services such as Spotify and Google Play Music. Σύμφωνα με μια δημοσίευση της Wall Street Journal, Shazam sends about one million clicks a day to Spotify only.
And as The Verge pointed out, the biggest benefits can be related to the augmented reality technology being developed by the Shazam platform.
Earlier this year the company launched an AR platform based on a technology introduced by 2015. This technology allows users to scan natural products such as magazines, books and ads to get additional information, such as Google Lens.
This could be an Apple reaction to anticipate features that are being prepared for Pixel 2 that will be using Google Lens very much.
