Last Thursday, Apple acquired Chomp, an app search engine that helps you find an app for both the iPhone and an Android phone. But now that Chomp is in Apple’s hands, Cupertino could very well completely redesign its App Store search and discovery process, helping users find their desired apps quickly, rather than getting mired in a growing sea of 550,000+ irrelevant results--a growing problem for smartphone users everywhere.
As history has proved, every time Apple’s acquired a company, app development team, or rights to a project, it’s usually churned out at something bigger and greater. For instance, Apple’s acquisition of Lala was a major foreshadowing of Apple’s plans to create its own cloud music service. Take a trip down memory lane with us as we look at five other Apple acquisitions that have given way to greater innovations from Cupertino. Hopefully, Chomp’s sale will have the same lasting impact on the future of the App Store.
Arguably the most famous of Apple’s acquisitions, Siri offers prime phone voice command. “She,” and sometimes “he,” is compatible in multiple languages and accents, allowing iPhone users from America to China to direct their phones vocally. However, before Siri became the apple of Apple’s eye, Siri was initially introduced as an application by Siri Inc. back in 2007. Not only does Siri talk back, but the app actually learns from preferences and interaction history to improve with each use, making it the only feature of its kind--and Apple the only carrier of this next generation of mobile technology. Since then, Siri has become overwhelmingly popular, an integral feature of the iPhone 4 that no one else has matched.
What started as Emagic is now known as Apple’s signature Garage Band and Logic Pro software. In 1992, Emagic created the Notator Logic with version for Atari, Mac, and Windows. Over time the product evolved, and in 2002 Apple purchased it, renaming it Logic Pro. Apple then used this as the basis for creating Garage Band, allowing literal “garage” bands and professionals alike to compose, record, and share homemade tunes.
Way back in 1985, Steve Jobs temporarily retired from Apple due to internal power struggles and founded NeXT, a then cutting-edge computer company aimed at universities. In the early 90s, NeXT switched from hardware to software, tinkering with new platforms and products such as WebObjects, which is now used to power Apple’s iTunes store. After over a decade, in 1996, Apple purchased NeXT for $429 million and invited Jobs back to Apple.
This was Apple’s make-it-or-break-it move. NeXT’s technology was the basis for what would become OS X, so it’s safe to say that had Apple not acquired NeXT, Apple’s platform certainly would not be the same. More interestingly, Steve Jobs could have possibly struck gold with NeXT, leaving Apple, who was already suffering sales slumps, to wither in its dust.
Experts in the realm of special effects and animation, Nothing Real brought a whole new element to Apple. This high-end technology, dubbed Shake, was mostly used by motion picture studios until Apple’s acquisition, when they gradually lowered the software’s price from $5,000 to $500.
Through Nothing Real, Apple took luxe film and gaming production merchandise and put it in the hands of the everyman. This helped tremendously during Apple’s restoration period in 2002, when the company bought out five startups to help boost sales and make profitability a feasible goal again.
Fingerworks created the multi-touch screens with their own products, the iGesture Pad and TouchScreen Keyboard. These products were initially developed to give users with repetitive stress injuries an alternative approach to mobile computing. However, when Apple got wind of these multi-touch screens, which allowed users to zoom, scroll, and so much more, they offered FingerWorks an undisclosed buy-out to incorporate the technology into iPhones, iPods, and iPads.
Though Fingerworks’ components were easily copied onto Droids and other tablets, it helped Apple stay one step ahead of the competition.
