Apple returns to remove the wallet, but this time will stay true to style: spend less. After astronomical 3 billion dollars invested in headphone maker Beats two months ago, acquiring mobile application of Swell radio for 30 million may seem like petty cash.
But it is a major purchase, and it is in the same sense as was the incorporation of Beats. By the way, Beats already gave a headache to the company co-founded by Steve Jobs: Bose, a classic American of the audio industry, just sue the manufacturer of headphones for the alleged violation of 5 of their patents for noise cancellation.
Swell is not focused on music stations, like other apps, but on talk shows and podcasts, a less explored territory, in principle, a new opportunity for Apple to see how, little by little, the business of downloading music declines at the expense of streaming. That is, the transmission of audio directly from the Internet.
One of the characteristics in which the creator of the iPhone may be interested is the algorithm used to create Swell, automatically, playlists based on user preferences. According to most analysts, Apple has the intention to use this technology to enhance their own application to hear podcasts by streaming, called Podcasts, which until now has had bad reviews.
Swell, which is available for iOS, and in preliminary version for Android, only transmits content of Canadian and American radios.
The app will be terminated this week as part of the procurement process, in which employees of Concept.io, makers of Swell, will work for Apple.