Apple has had a bit of a busy year. The company’s fourth-quarter earnings call revealed dizzyingly high revenue and profit numbers
off the sales of millions of iPads, iPhones, and Macs. But Apple also
welcomed a fair number of other companies into fold through acquisitions
this year, including 3D gesture-sensing company PrimeSense and productivity app Cue.
Let’s add two more to the list: mapping firm BroadMap, and cross-platform note taking app Catch, as reported by 9to5Mac.
BroadMap isn’t a mapping company so much as a provider of
tools and resources to analyze and process large sets of geographic
information system (GIS) data. Improving the backbone of iOS’ maps
technology would go a long way towards bringing Apple’s beleaguered Maps initiative
on to stable footing with its competition from Google and Microsoft.
9to5 Mac’s sources report that many of BroadMap’s executives have
joined Apple in the last few months, a notion confirmed by their
LinkedIn profiles.
Catch is (or was, rather) something altogether different: a
cross-platform note-taking app that was aimed at taking on Evernote,
but shut down in August of this year. 9to5’s sources once again report
that the majority of the Catch team —including the note-taking app’s
co-founder — found a new home at Apple.
Coincidence? Maybe. But keeping an eye on corporate
acquisitions can go a long way towards helping us suss out their plans.
BroadMap is a no-brainer, given Apple’s woes in getting Maps off the
ground.
Catch is a bit more interesting. Google has taken a bit of a
scattershot approach at the personal assistant and note taking game,
with Google Now and Google Keep
working together to track your notes and reminders, and keep you
abreast of what’s up during the day. It stands to reason that a tag team
of Siri and something like Catch would be in the works, taking a few of
Apple’s disparate apps — including Reminders and Notepad — and making
something more cohesive out of the whole.
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