Apple has acquired Chomp, which provides an app search engine for iPhone, iPad and Android apps, according to various reports.
It will be interesting to see how long Chomp offers Android app search, which Verizon announced in September it would replace its VCast with.
MG Siegler, who appears to be the first to have reported on the acquisition, says, “My understanding is that such deals will remain intact for now but are likely to end once the Chomp team and product fully transitions over to Apple. The same is likely true for Chomp’s stand-alone products.”
In fact, 9to5Mac says its sources say Chomp CEO Ben Keighran and CTO Cathy Edwards are already working at Apple, and that Keighran is now part of the iTunes marketing team, and Edwards is a senior iTunes engineer.
So yeah, I don’t expect we’ll see Chomp helping you with Android app searches for very long.
There haven’t been any official announcements from Chomp or Apple, but according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Apple may have paid around $50 million for the company.
Does iTunes need improvement in the app search department? Tell us what you think.