CALIFORNIA - Apple Inc is set to to acquire Shazam, the app that lets you identify songs, movies, and TV shows from an audio clip, in deal reportedly worth $400 million (R5,0467 billion).
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Shazam has been popular for past 19 years, having received over 1 billion downloads.
However, In 2016, the company only pulled in $54 million (R737 million) in revenue, while losing $5.3 million (R720 Million) in the year which was a major knock.
The benefit of acquiring Shazam, is the company’s music and sound recognition technologies, that will be an advantage for Apple.
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If Apple decides to shut down the app, it will hurt their competing streaming services such as Spotify and Google Play Music. According to the Wall Street Journal, Shazam sends over 1 million clicks a day to these services.
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Shazam also has a deal with Snapchat. It’s unclear how the acquisition will affect any of these agreements. Additionally,Shazam’s augmented reality tech will also be a big benefit to Apple. Earlier this year, Shazam launched an augmented reality platform for brands, building upon the visual recognition technology it launched back in 2015.
The technology allows users to scan magazines, books, posters, advertisements, and other physical products which could then launch 3D animations, product visualisations, and 360-degree videos.