Apple has reportedly purchased Cue, the company formerly known as Greplin, in a bid to compete with Google Now on personalized search.
TechCrunch’s Alexia Tsotsis says she’s confirmed with “a person who should know” that the acquisition occurred, and that the price was between $40 million and $60 million.
Greplin was intriguing in the early days of personalized search, as it let you search across Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. in a way that Google simply couldn’t do. It would give you personalized stuff from your own accounts.
Google has since introduced a lot of features that made it better at personalization, including Google Now and Gmail/Google Drive results from web search.
Greplin eventually rebranded to Cue last year, and added some new functionality.
Apparently Apple, looking for more ways to compete with Google, liked what it saw and snatched up the company. Apple has been giving out its canned statement it always gives for acquisition news: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”
It will be interesting to see what comes of it.
Image: Cue