Among all the acquisitions that Apple has made over the years, the latest addition is that of Pop Up Archive. It will allow users to easily sort podcasts and search for them in future.
The Hot Pod newsletter of NiemanLabmentioned Apple officially acquiring Pop Up Archive a couple of days back. Pop Up Archive is basically a startup based in Oakland which is known for creating a lot of tools allowing users to make a search, sort, categorize and transcribe the audio files. The suite also includes Audiosear.ch which is full-text search engine in which speech-to-text input is acceptable for making contextual searches within the radio and the podcasts.
It is quite evident as to why such a technology would prove to be quite useful for Apple as they are already managing 50-70 percent of total podcast downloads today. However, company’s official statement given to press turned out to be quite cryptic and curt. They were of the opinion that Apple buys small tech startups off and on and that they don’t generally discuss the plans or purpose behind acquisitions.
Coming back to Pop Up Archive, it was founded in 2012 and has grown quietly every since by getting monetary help from companies like 500 Startups, Bloomberg Beta, and Knight Foundation. Company’s operations were shut down officially on 28th of November as they ended support as well and they were likely preparing for acquisition.
We’re quite hopeful that the tools from Pop Up Archive will be helpful for Apple in expanding its search capabilities for Apple Podcasts and the users will be able to find more specific and tailored content for their individual needs and interests. It will also prove to be quite helpful when it comes to making recommendations from within Podcasts app in a more effective manner. We all know that currently Apple is allowing recommendations limited in broad sense to the similar shows and it doesn’t recommend similar shows with respect to their content similarity, for instance. If successfully implemented, all the changes can come together and drive some major improvements in the area of Apple Podcasts. So, let’s hope for the best.
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