Apple Buys Twitter Analytics Startup Topsy Labs | Hacker News Reader

Apple Buys Twitter Analytics Startup Topsy Labs

online.wsj.com

68 pointscoloneltcb22 comments

link not behind paywall: http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702304854804579234450633315742-lMyQjAxMTAzMDAwMjEwNDIyWj

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The Topsy API is the best way to surface "trend" type data from Twitter. I'm a little confused as to why Apple would make this acquisition, but of the companies doing things in the "make the Twitter firehose accessible" space, Topsy has had the best product for some time.

I think they will use this to tweak AppStore app ranking algorithm. User app reviews only go so far.

I was also thinking possibly using this data and other streams to possibly give Siri the ability to answer more accurately questions like "Siri, what is going on in the United States today?" (Or where I live, work, etc).

Just in case Siri was already really good I gave it a check but it was mostly lame USA facts on twitter, and a news reel of links to a somewhat better representation of an answer to the question but mostly foreign relations and bigger picture stories where the USA is mentioned explicitly. I have a feeling things like "A catastrophic tornado in Tennessee…" which only mentions that state probably wouldn't come up as readily yet.

And that is definitely an incredibly hard question to tackle too.

Their expertise could be used in any number of ways in Apple's various server side services imo.

I was confused too. However, I think they are going to bring in-app search (like Android) to iOS. They can always auto index the apps on the device and then send the data to their servers. Alternatively they may also relase APIs for developers to push user specific content to their servers to index items (more like ElasticSearch or AWS CloudSearch.)

$200M is a lot of money to just improve the app store search. They might end up using it for that too.

Sadly, the most likely reason these days would be for more patent ammunition.

An Apple spokeswoman confirmed the deal but wouldn't comment further. "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans," she said without elaborating further.

Question for those more experienced here, but doesn't "purpose or plans" of acquisitions generally fall under things that you have a duty to share with your shareholders?

Depending on the acquisition cost as a percentage of market cap, not really.

AFAIK they are able to stay fairly quiet unless the purchase reaches a certain threshold amount.

"Duty" is somewhat subjective. They also have a "duty" to those shareholders to keep those plans secret if they deem that secrecy is beneficial for the business plans.

Not on a spend as small as that (0.04% of market cap).

Flagged because it's behind a login wall.

As always, with the WSJ - just do a google search for the title and you can bypass the paywall:

This worked for me: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142405270230485480...

(might be time limited though)

Off topic, but it really annoys me when they write "according to people familiar with the matter." There is very little information in that statement!

Deals like this are usually confidential so the sources can't reveal themselves for fear of breaching contract.

Yeah, it leaves you in a situation where the information is just a rumor. All you can do is trust (or not) the original publisher of the rumour. The Wall Street Journal is usually pretty good with this type of Apple tidbit.

As i see it, this is another move to strengthen Siri...

edit: As Tycho said before me...

For Siri perhaps?

IMHO, bingo.

Or possibly even just for iTunes Store / App Store.

Knowing trends that are currently popular would help provide better results.

Will Topsy still get access to the Twitter firehose?

non paywall link: http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702304...

Now, apple understands the power of tweet. But, I feel sorry for them. "Twitter is not for sale" Haha. Try with other products now, Apple.

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