Apple Inc. (AAPL) Buys Topsy Labs: WSJ

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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) bought Topsy Labs, a social media analytics firm for $200 million, according to a report from Daisuke Wakabayashi and Douglas Macmillan of the Wall Street Journal based on information obtained from sources knowledgeable about the transaction.

Also see Apple Inc. Market Value Surpasses $500B

Topsy a leader in analytics

Topsy Labs is an expert in analyzing billions of real-time conversations, campaigns, and web traffic as well as detecting and following breaking news. The company offers tools to analyze messages sent via Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) and determine how often consumers use a specific term in their tweets. Its tools also measure the exposure of a specific event or find celebrities on a particular subject.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Topsy Labs is one of the few partners of Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) that has access to the “fire hose” or entire stream of tweets posted on the platform of the micro blogging company.

Topsy Labs Apple

Reports murky on what Apple will do with Topsy

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) through its spokesperson confirmed the acquisition of Topsy Labs, but did not provide further details regarding the transaction. The spokesperson of the tech giant said, “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” she said without elaborating further.

Observers in the technology industry are speculating that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) might integrate the technology of Topsy Labs with its iTunes Radio or use its data to provide information to listeners regarding artists or music that are trending.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) might also use Topsy Lab’s to provide real-time data to advertisers to be able create effective and targeted campaign on iTunes radio. The tech giant is struggling to attracts advertisers to allocate ad spends for its iAd campaign.  The company recently lowered its iAd threshold from $1 million to $100,000 per campaign to entice advertisers.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) created the iAd campaign to inspire developers to create apps for iOS because the company noticed many of them are becoming increasingly interested in developing apps for Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Android operating system.

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