Apple is close to acquiring the classic music recognition app Shazam, according to a report on Friday.
TechCrunch sources say Cupertino has this week made a decisive move to grab the service, with a deal likely to be announced on Monday.
The sources said Apple will pay somewhere between £100 and £300 million for the UK-based app, which has earned over 1 billion downloads on all platforms.
Related: iPhone X review
Shazam — which allows users to quickly identify songs, films, TV shows or commercials — has been an essential app since the dawn of the smartphone era. In fact, it started life in 1999 as a text-based service that returned the results to user’s handsets.
The innate ability to recognise songs (sometimes within a second) and link users to streaming options, lyric sheets, related tracks, artists and social sharing options has made it a hugely popular option on touchscreen devices.
A smart move?
The move makes perfect sense for Apple as it looks to boost its own Apple Music streaming service, which is already linked to from within Shazam.
The ability to identify a song from within Apple Music or iTunes would make listening an even more seamless experience for users.
Whether Apple would continue to allow Shazam to link out to other streaming options like Spotify and YouTube remains to be seen. Indeed, it’s questionable whether Apple would even keep the app alive at all.
Apple and Shazam are yet to comment on the reports.
Would buying Shazam be a smart move for Apple? Let us know your feelings @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
