Google recently enabled a feature in its voice assistant that allows it to recognize music. Now Apple is making in-roads in the industry. According to TechCrunch, they are very close to buying Shazam.
What we know about the deal
According to insiders the deal has already been signed off and dusted. It seems like the companies will announce it next Monday. The exact price of the acquisition is still unclear. Few sources claim it runs in nine figures while others claim it cost around three hundred or four hundred million US dollars.
Why would Apple buy Shazam?
At first look, the acquisition does not make sense. Apple’s Siri can already recognize music on iPhones and Macs. Shazam has a useful feature where it listens to music in the background. This is a useful feature that Apple can implement on its HomePod.
Another reason of this could be that Shazam is working on augmented reality. Augmented reality is a field that Apple has been focusing a lot on this year so this could be a major reason for its acquisition. Shazam has a feature that allows you to take a photograph of a song title or ticket and it automatically gains information from that picture. Apple could develop this tech to combat Google and its Google Lens project.
The biggest concern out of this purchase will be for Android users. There is a serious risk that Apple could pull the app from the Google Play Store. Another area we still do not know about is if Apple will allow Shazam to function as a separate company. This is difficult to predict because Apple is known to work both ways. The purchase of Beats has not affected the company as it still functions separately. However, Apple’s purchase of HopStop went the opposite way and the company does not exist on its own anymore.
UPDATE: Apple has confirmed the acquisition
