The hardware giant, Apple, which is more known for being tight lipped about everything than their interest in being social has acquired social media analytics firm, Topsy. The move, which surprised many, was confirmed on Monday. Topsy Labs has a focus on analyzing all of the Twitter messages which come out each day, numbering around a half a billion. They have indexed every single tweet ever made, and allowed them to be searchable. Topsy is essentially the Google of Twitter.
Industry experts and insiders are largely at a loss as to why Apple would purchase this company, which doesn’t seem to fit in with their normal business model. Apple is, unsurprisingly, not giving anyone any clues as to why they made the purchase. Kristin Huguet, a spokeswomen for Apple, said, “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.” Typical Apple…
The information gathering technology Apple will get with Topsy could be used for a variety of things that may help Apple. Seeing what types of movies, music and other things are trending on Twitter could help Apple market more efficiently, though it is questionable whether purchasing this company would be a smart move just to get this data. They could have worked out a data leasing or sharing agreement at a more affordable price I am sure.
There hasn’t been any confirmed price that Apple paid for the company, though the Wall Street Journal said the deal was worth over $200 Million, according to ‘unnamed people familiar with the matter.’ If that price tag is accurate, it is just a drop in the bucket considering Apple’s huge cash reserves.
Whatever Apple has in mind, it will likely surprise many. Apple isn’t known for making too many dumb moves; so many people will be keeping a close eye on the company to see what comes of this purchase. Having access to high quality information about Tweets could be used as a powerful marketing tool for Apple and possibly as a service to others in the future.
