Apple acquires Chomp app search engine to enhance App Store

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Apple has acquired Chomp, a search engine designed to find and discover apps for iPhone, iPad and Android. The purchase appears intended to enhance software discovery the App Store.

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco-based Chomp was founded in 2009 and has raised $2.5 million in funding.

Apple has been frequently questioned about how it plans to spend its nearly $100 billion cash pile, but Chomp is only the second acquisition the company has made this year, following the January purchase of Anobit. The price of Chomp wasn't announced, but Bloomberg later reported that Apple paid $50 million.

Apple's App Store has limited search and discovery features, something Apple has worked to improve. Chomp's website and mobile app offer term search, sale listings, trending apps, new apps and other categories intended to make it easier to discover specific apps among the library of what is now more than 550,000 titles in the App Store.

Chomp currently powers Verizon's Android app search, and offers both an Android app and features search of Android apps on its website, all of which Apple is likely to terminate.

Apple's acquisitions are often talent based, and Chomp executives are reportedly now working in iTunes Marketing and as Senior iTunes Engineers. Previous recent Apple acquisitions resulted in the products and services of iAd, iTunes Match and Siri.

💬 19 Comments

halhiker

said about 11 years ago

I think Apple's cash pile is $100 Billion, not $100 Million

MacPro

said about 11 years ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by halhiker

I think Apple's cash pile is $100 Billion, not $100 Million

You beat me to it, that's quite a rounding error.

aaronj

said about 11 years ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by digitalclips

You beat me to it, that's quite a rounding error.

I wish my bank would make that same error, but in reverse.

This sounds like an interesting acquisition, and improved searching capabilities in the App Store would certainly be welcome.

I wonder what Android will do to replace it?

wurm5150

said about 11 years ago

Huge small acquisition by Apple.. 500K+ apps, it's a headache searching for great apps.

nagromme

said about 11 years ago

I think it?s odd how App Store searching works so differently on iTunes vs. iPhone vs. iPad. I like the iPad version the best: you can filter and sort your searches more easily. Still room for improvement though.

Nothing jumps out at me about Chomp?s front end, but I suspect their back-end skills are what this is about anyway.