Apple Inc. has acquired social-analytics leader Topsy Labs Inc. for more than $200 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Topsy specializes in analyzing “billions of conversations in real-time,” specifically on Twitter. It’s not yet clear how Apple plans to utilize Topsy, the Journal reports:
Apple’s goals for Topsy are unclear. Analysts said Topsy’s insights could be useful in several Apple services, including the iTunes media store, Siri voice assistant or iAd advertising platform.
AdvertisementSusan Etlinger, industry analyst at Altimeter Group, said Topsy’s analysis could help Apple recommend songs, movies and TV shows to iTunes users. Topsy engineers could help Apple learn how to extract similar insights from other large data sets.
Apple “could benefit from a more forward looking view of what people’s interests are,” Ms. Etlinger said. “Twitter is optimized for understanding conversations around entertainment.”
Last month, Topsy exclusively partnered with Lost Remote to analyze Sunday night’s social TV movers and shakers.