Report: Apple Acquired a Search Startup In 2013
Apple has reportedly acquired a search startup Ottocat to beef up its 'Explore' feature in the App Store.
The acquisition first reported by TechCrunch, noted that some time ago the startup had developed a system to organize and surface apps on the app store based on "nested" categories of increasing specificity.
According to the report Cupertino-giant acquired the startup back in 2013. "It was in October of that year that Ottocat's website went down with the short message: "Ottocat is no longer available." Now, pointing your browser to Ottocat's URL gives you a blank page. Ottocat had a very short life: it only opened its beta to the public in May 2013 after developing a working prototype in January 2013," the report said.
Ottocat essentially addresses pain points on both sides of the App Store: users unable to find specific enough results for subject-based app searches when they don't have a specific app in mind and for developers it helps them reach out to users among other 1 million+ apps.
