Apple has just confirmed its acquisition of music recognition app Shazam. The company also announced that the app will be free and ad-free for all users, even those using Android.
The purchase of the app has been on the cards for some time. The acquisition was first reported in December 2017, but today it is now official.
Shazam was one of the first apps to rise to the top of online stores, and to date it has been downloaded over a billion times. The app “listens” to songs, “identifies” them, and then announces the track to the user by providing links to services like Spotify and iTunes.
The app could be used by Apple for at least three main reasons.
One reason is to keep up with its competitors. Google’s Pixel can automatically identify a song that is playing without you having to do anything. Now that Apple has bought Shazam, it can integrate the feature into future versions of iOS.
The second reason is profit. The Shazam app recognizes 20 million songs a day. If Apple can drive users to iTunes, it could make extra money.
Third reason? To improve the digital assistant Siri. Many people believe that Apple has fallen behind with Siri. However, by leveraging Shazam's audio capabilities, and especially its audio recognition and analysis, it could potentially add features to the digital assistant.
Whatever Apple's plans for Shazam, removing ads from the app is something that everyone will like.
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