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Apple has acquired Cue, a personal assistant app that was designed to aggregate information from email, contacts, and calendars into a daily snapshot, reports AppleInsider. MacRumors heard similar rumors about the potential acquisition several weeks ago, but we were unable to verify the claim. The deal has reportedly netted Cue (formerly known as Greplin) $40 to $60 million dollars.

In response to queries about the reports, Apple seemingly confirmed the acquisition to CNET and TechCrunch with its standard statement: "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."

cue.jpg
Cue turns your email, contacts and calendar into an intelligent snapshot of your day. All you need to create a Cue account is an email address. Then you can begin linking your Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Google Calendar, Facebook and all the other accounts that you depend on every day. Cue pulls these accounts together and uses sophisticated algorithms to create a personalized overview of the events and activities of your day.
Earlier this week, Cue unexpectedly shut down, posting a short note on its website letting users know that the Cue service is no longer available. TechCrunch speculated the shut down was likely the result of a sale due to the amount of funding Cue had raised. The app has since been pulled from the App Store.

Cue's aggregation functionality could potentially be built into a number of Apple products, including Siri. Apple's iOS 7 Notification Center already offers a similar daily overview, pulling events and information from the Calendar, Weather, Clock, and Maps apps. The information is dynamic, shifting based on new events and location.

Apple has made a number of other acquisitions over the course of 2013, including Matcha.tv, AlgoTrim, Embark, HopStop, Locationary, and Passif Semiconductor.

Article Link: Apple Acquires Personal Assistant App Cue
 

Slix

macrumors 65816
Mar 24, 2010
1,432
1,966
I see how this can be incorporated into Notification Center or Siri to improve the Today view and other things like that. I guess we'll see how it goes over time.
 

fivedots

macrumors 6502a
Jun 29, 2011
695
3
Wouldn't it be cheaper for Apple to create their own "algorithm" internally?

Maybe, however there is a bit of PR here too. Buying the third party developers whose ideas they like looks a heck of a lot better than ripping off their ideas and killing them off.

There is also the recruitment, i.e. acqui-hire angle.
 

unicorn025

macrumors member
Aug 12, 2010
78
0
that will almost be like google know that will be great for iphone user and other member of my family that use apple product good news.
 

Georgij

macrumors regular
Mar 11, 2013
128
0
Wouldn't it be cheaper for Apple to create their own "algorithm" internally?

I think that by having more than 100 billion dollars in bank those 50 millions are nothing.
As Cook said, the most important resource are talented people.
 

BrianMojo

macrumors regular
Jul 10, 2006
185
0
Boston, MA
I love Apple products but Google Now is definitely currently out-classing Apple. This seems like a much needed catch-up in that space.
 

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Nov 14, 2011
24,084
31,015
I love Apple products but Google Now is definitely currently out-classing Apple. This seems like a much needed catch-up in that space.

How ironic considering Steve Jobs always maintained Apple was a software company. Yet it seems they are behind other companies when it comes to software and cloud services.
 

petsounds

macrumors 65816
Jun 30, 2007
1,493
519
This is exactly what Siri needs to grow towards a true personal assistant, knowledgeable about your activities and able to schedule things intelligently for you, instead of its current duties as mostly an interface between you and various APIs.
 

teknikal90

macrumors 68040
Jan 28, 2008
3,343
1,892
Vancouver, BC
How ironic considering Steve Jobs always maintained Apple was a software company. Yet it seems they are behind other companies when it comes to software and cloud services.

no steve jobs always maintained that Apple was a products company. that its the sum of its parts that brings about the experience is the thing that matters.
 

diegogaja

macrumors 6502
Sep 16, 2009
368
170
Could they be buying it for the patents also? (I honestly didn't check to see if Cue had any patents on their product)

I think that by having more than 100 billion dollars in bank those 50 millions are nothing.
As Cook said, the most important resource are talented people.
 

WestonHarvey1

macrumors 68030
Jan 9, 2007
2,771
2,187
I suspected as much. Cue's shutdown message yesterday made absolutely no mention they were acquired or that they'd continue to exist in any way. That's the Apple way.
 

Krazy Bill

macrumors 68030
Dec 21, 2011
2,985
3
"Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."

Translation: When somebody does something better than us we just make them go away.
 

Deelron

macrumors regular
Jan 30, 2009
235
113
Translation: When somebody does something better than us we just make them go away.


Or "When somebody does something better then us we recognize it and buy them instead of just taking their idea and litigating them out of business."
 

petsounds

macrumors 65816
Jun 30, 2007
1,493
519
The one worrying thing to me is that Apple should already have a focused team working on technologies like this for Siri and their web services. Either they saw one chunk of tech that they liked, they just want to bury competition, or they haven't been working on this stuff at all.
 

dmarcoot

macrumors member
Dec 21, 2007
37
3
no steve jobs always maintained that Apple was a products company. that its the sum of its parts that brings about the experience is the thing that matters.


No. He may have said that, but he didn't "always maintain' that. I have read an interview with him in last decade where explicitly says Apple is a software company first.
 

Oletros

macrumors 603
Jul 27, 2009
6,002
60
Premià de Mar
The one worrying thing to me is that Apple should already have a focused team working on technologies like this for Siri and their web services. Either they saw one chunk of tech that they liked, they just want to bury competition, or they haven't been working on this stuff at all.


Buying Cue doesn't means that Apple doesn't have a team working in that direction
 

ownamac

macrumors regular
Jun 24, 2010
111
2
Wouldn't it be cheaper for Apple to create their own "algorithm" internally?

Possibly cheaper but if you see someone is ahead of your in-house project then acquiring them can cut time to market in a competitive landscape.
 

Terrin

macrumors 6502
Apr 5, 2011
430
1
How ironic considering Steve Jobs always maintained Apple was a software company. Yet it seems they are behind other companies when it comes to software and cloud services.

It is better than a lot of companies as well. Apple's HTML iCloud based apps are very nice. I prefer its mail services over other popular options. It is improving in other areas. Google has an advantage for some services as it has more data, but Apple is catching up.
 
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