Search and Social: How Apple Might Utilize Its $200 Million Topsy Purchase

topsyFollowing Apple's $200 million purchase of social analytics firm Topsy earlier this week, a wide variety of analysts and pundits have been considering what Apple might do with the company.

More than anything, Topsy is a search and analytics company, holding a number of search-related patents that could be implemented directly into the App or iTunes Stores to improve searches and discovery. One patent helps rank search results based on reputation and influence, which could be used to help higher quality apps rise to the top of App Store search results, for example.

Another patent details the return of search results to include popular items related to a specific query on a social media site. While not directly related, a similar technology could be incorporated into App Store search. For example, a user searching for Major League Baseball apps could be linked to other trending sports apps for the NFL or NBA.

Twitter considered buying Topsy as well because, according to AllThingsD, "Topsy’s search technology and tools were even more effective than Twitter’s own in-house search tools" but Twitter ultimately decided to pass on the purchase.

Apple has purchased companies in the past to boost its search results on the App Store, most notably Chomp, acquired by the company last year.

Apple has also been focusing on increasing its advertising revenue in recent years, first with iAd's in-app advertising, and more recently with iTunes Radio. Another Topsy patent relates to the display of certain advertisements to users based on an "influence score" that helps determine which advertisements are shown to a particular user.

As for what Apple will do with Topsy, TechCrunch's Matthew Panzarino is thinking along these same lines.

If I had to hazard a guess, this might be related to Apple building out the relevancy engine of its App and iTunes Stores. Adding social signals to the search algorithms of its stores could help to improve the relevance of search results and help Apple surface apps that are hotter and more interesting to users. Tracking app trends across social networks would allow them to fine tune categories and collections of apps, and surface apps that are gaining steam more quickly.

Pulling the thread out a bit further, it's possible that Apple could even use the data from your Twitter feeds to recommend apps on a more personal basis, rather than ‘generically' to everyone. Apple has done little of this kind of personalized recommendation work to this point, but there's always a first time for everything.

The Wall Street Journal concurs, saying that "Topsy's insights could be useful in several Apple services, including the iTunes media store, Siri voice assistant or iAd advertising platform."

Another pundit, Azeem Azhar, argued on LinkedIn that Topsy's search platform could be part of the foundation for an Apple move against Google in search. The company already built a mapping app, displacing Google Maps in one of the iPhone's most fundamental features -- and an investment in search could be a logical place to spend some of Apple's enormous cash pile.

Wouldn't it be smart for Apple to deploy Topsy's search infrastructure as the search layer for iOS? Working to index both the social Web, but also the best bits of the Web that power Siri and Apple Maps, reduce the reliance on Google and reduce the flow of advertising dollars to the big G.

[...]

These are additional signals that could make the experience of search on iOS really different to the experience on Google. A search which encapsulates data on the web, databases of businesses, real, fresh social signals and purchase preference data from 900m consumers. All accessible from my iOS device, connected back to my Apple ID (and the credit card attached to it).

Topsy has full access to the Twitter 'firehose', meaning its technology can be used to deal with enormous amounts of data and its search engine technology is designed specifically for that. It's possible that Topsy's search engine could be used by Apple for more than just search, however. The company could combine iCloud, App Store purchase data, reviews, social network activity and more to get a better idea of their customer's activity for both advertising and search purposes.

While the purchase of Topsy is notable, the $200 million acquisition accounts for some 1/750th of Apple's current $150 billion in cash and will likely be the one of many acquisitions that Apple makes during fiscal 2014.

Last year, in fiscal 2013, Apple made a total of 15 acquisitions of varying sizes over the course of the year. In its public financial calls with analysts, Apple executives have repeatedly said that a number of new hardware, software and services products are in its pipeline for release in calendar 2014 and beyond.

Top Rated Comments

ForzaJuve Avatar
135 months ago
They could generate even more.

Give this guy a job at Apple immediately!
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Klae17 Avatar
135 months ago
They keep buying companies to improve the App Store and iTunes, yet both are still s***.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jeffzoom91 Avatar
135 months ago
I always get a little shiver when Apple does cool Computer Science-y stuff...

GCD, Timer Coalescing, Co-Processors, real asymmetric finger print security...all awesome stuff.

Chances are, they're going to do something cool with it, and we won't even notice it happening.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Klae17 Avatar
135 months ago
both generate tons of money.

They could generate even more.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
numlock Avatar
135 months ago
both generate tons of money.

hardly the definition if something is **** or not

What are the chances that Apples eventually buys Twitter? I mean someone is going to buy Twitter sooner or later. I think it would be a great move for Apple to make, they would get more involved into the social media while also delivering a blow to Google. Eventually all these small tech companies are going to be bought or put out of business by Apple or Google.

thats a pretty bleak view of the future (not that i disagree)
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
willcapellaro Avatar
135 months ago
How are they ****?

To start with, misspell anything and intended search results will not show. That's a pretty rookie mistake on their part.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

reset password request iphone

Warning: Apple Users Targeted in Phishing Attack Involving Rapid Password Reset Requests

Tuesday March 26, 2024 4:34 pm PDT by
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple's password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they'll respond favorably to social engineering. An...
iPhone Home Screen Gradient Blank Spaces 1

Sources: iOS 18 Lets Apps Be Placed Anywhere on Home Screen Grid

Sunday March 24, 2024 1:33 pm PDT by
iOS 18 will give iPhone users greater control over Home Screen app icon arrangement, according to sources familiar with the matter. While app icons will likely remain locked to an invisible grid system on the Home Screen, to ensure there is some uniformity, our sources say that users will be able to arrange icons more freely on iOS 18. For example, we expect that the update will introduce...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Purple

iOS 18: What to Expect From 'Biggest' Update in iPhone's History

Wednesday March 27, 2024 11:10 am PDT by
At least some Apple software engineers continue to believe that iOS 18 will be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. "The iOS 18 update is expected to be the most ambitious overhaul of the iPhone's software in its history, according to people working on the upgrade," wrote Gurman, in a r...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2024 Event for June 10 to 14

Tuesday March 26, 2024 10:02 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference is set to take place from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14. As with WWDC events since 2020, WWDC 2024 will be an online event that is open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. WWDC 2024 will include online sessions and labs so that developers can learn about new...
apple maps 3d feature

Apple Maps May Gain Custom Routes With iOS 18

Tuesday March 26, 2024 3:10 pm PDT by
Apple may be planning to add support for "custom routes" in Apple Maps in iOS 18, according to code reviewed by MacRumors. Apple Maps does not currently offer a way to input self-selected routes, with Maps users limited to Apple's pre-selected options, but that may change in iOS 18. Apple has pushed an iOS 18 file to its maps backend labeled "CustomRouteCreation." While not much is revealed...
iPad Pro 2024 Landscape Camera Feature

New iPad Pro Again Rumored to Feature Landscape Front-Facing Camera

Monday March 25, 2024 5:43 am PDT by
The next-generation iPad Pro will feature a landscape-oriented front-facing camera for the first time, according to the Apple leaker known as "Instant Digital." Instant Digital reiterated the design change earlier today on Weibo with a simple accompanying 2D image. The post reveals that the entire TrueDepth camera array will move to the right side of the device, while the microphone will...
sonoma desktop wwdc

Apple Releases macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 With Fix for USB Hub Bug

Monday March 25, 2024 10:10 am PDT by
Apple today released macOS Sonoma 14.4.1, a minor update for the macOS Sonoma operating system that launched last September. macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 comes three weeks after macOS Sonoma 14.4. The ‌‌‌‌macOS Sonoma‌‌ 14.4‌.1 update can be downloaded for free on all eligible Macs using the Software Update section of System Settings. There's also a macOS 13.6.6 release for those who...