Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the company has acquired 15 companies this year, but the company only revealed 10 of the 15 companies it acquired. 9to5Mac has found out two more companies that Apple acquired — mapping firm BroadMap and Evernote-competitor Catch.
BroadMap
BroadMap is a mapping firm that specialises in Graphic Information Systems (GIS) services, to analyse and manage geographical data, which is obviously quite valuable to Apple. Former BroadMap employees now work in the “Maps Data Validation” team at Apple.
The acquisition was reportedly made for the talent and not particularly BroadMap’s technology, according to the report.
Catch
Catch, another Apple acquisition, was a cross-platform note taking app with millions of users. It had a simple UI, cloud based notes sync, reminders and notifications, The service had an iOS and Android app, as well as browser extensions for Firefox, Chrome and IE. Apple in fact liked the app so much that they featured in their marketing promotions for the iPhone.
Catch “mysteriously” shut down its notes service in July this year, saying that they were taking the company in a different direction. The new direction was of course being acquired by Apple. 9to5Mac says Catch could be used to boost the integration of Siri with reminders and notes, or help Apple’s iCloud team.
Apple has confirmed the acquisition of both companies to AllThingD, giving a standard response that says:
“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”
The result of these acquisitions will be apparent in iOS 8, the next version of Apple’s mobile operating system.
[via 9to5Mac]
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