Apple acquires Spotsetter; Game on, Google Maps

Apple acquires Spotsetter; Game on, Google Maps

Spotsetter was available as both a web and mobile application, on both IOS and Android.

The news broke Friday that Apple had purchased Spotsetter, a personalized recommendations app that combines data from social networks with information from more than 30 review sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, Zagat and The New York Times. The terms of the deal are still undisclosed, TechCrunch reports.

According to TechCrunch, the acquisition was mainly about obtaining the technology and know-how of Spotsetter’s founders, former Google Maps engineer Stephen Tse and Johnny Lee. Without question, the ability to layer social data on top of a maps interface would be a major coup for Apple Maps, since Google lacks such a feature.

Spotsetter was available as both a web and mobile application, on both IOS and Android. The service had processed five million user profiles, 40 million venues and one million curated venue content items globally as of last summer, Business Insider reports.

The company officially shut down the app six days ago, likely in preparation for the coming acquisition.

“With fondest emotions, I’m announcing that we are closing down Spotsetter app,” said Lee in a farewell blog post. “We still have big dreams for personalized search for places and look forward to seeing great progress in this area.”

The Spotsetter deal is one of several Apple has made in recent years to beef up its Maps product, with the acquisitions of Hopstop, Locationary and Embark the most noteworthy.

Your move, Google.

 

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