Ondrej Holzman Apple continues to be by no means idle, bringing one talented team after another to Cupertino, usually with its products. The latest addition was the Swell application, which Apple bought for $30 million (614 million crowns). With this streaming service, the California company could improve its iTunes Radio.
Operating as an iOS app, Swell can best be compared to Pandora for "podcast radio" that plays selected podcasts continuously, and the user can always mark whether they like the station or not. If it doesn't like it, it skips the currently playing podcast and Swell gradually learns to know the user's taste.
The app was available worldwide, however, it offered content primarily from the United States and Canada. After the acquisition by Apple, which the company confirmed to the WSJ with its traditional line, but it was immediately pulled from the App Store and the web hanging service termination notice:
Thank you for using Swell over the past year. We would like to inform you that the Swell service is no longer available. We were inspired by the opportunity to create quality products that positively impact our lives, and we are grateful to all of our listeners. Thank you all for your support!
Discontinuing the app and shutting down the service means that Apple is most likely going to integrate it into its products. One possibility is to integrate Swell into the Podcasts application, which until now has been somewhat neglected by Apple and earned a very poor rating from users. The second option is to use Swell for iTunes Radio, in which Apple is just getting started with stations like ESPN or NPR, from which Swell also drew.
Along with the technologies, most of the Swell team is moving to Apple. After downloading the app from the App Store, it is likely that the Android version that was in beta testing will never be released. It is also interesting that Google, along with other investors, also invested money in Swell through its Ventures.
With the acquisition of Swell, Apple continues to buy companies to improve its own services. Swell is the Pandora for podcasts, recently bought startup BookLamp can again be described as Pandora for books and last but not least should be mentioned in this regard as well the giant acquisition of Beats, also thanks to it, Apple plans to improve its existing products.
I should come up with something quickly, since there is such a rush for startups right now