Apple's purchase of Shazam goes well beyond music as it adds data, algorithm knowhow and talent
0Apple's purchase of Shazam goes well beyond music as it adds data, algorithm knowhow and talent.
Apple's purchase of music recognition app Shazam serves multiple purposes for the company including making Siri smarter, adding data science experts and providing hooks into services such as Apple Music.
In a statement, Apple noted that Apple Music and Shazam "are a natural fit." TechCrunch reported last week that Apple was close to buying Shazam for about $400 million.
Sure, Apple Music is a natural fit for Shazam, but I'd argue that the acquisition is also about Siri. Shazam's engine can recognize songs in milliseconds and has focused for years on metadata, tagging and building a database that can be tapped in real time. I argued in 2014 that Shazam would have made a good Apple acquisition.
In a blog post, Shazam recently noted: