Apple acquires Shazam, mobile app to go ad-free for everyone

Shazam was founded in 1999, and at the end of December, the company's app that can identify music, movies, TV shows, and advertising based on an audio sample was one of the top ten most popular apps in the world. The company was acquired by Apple on December 11, 2017. Now, all the needed approvals are a part of the past and Shazam is finally a part of Apple.

According to Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music, "Apple and Shazam have a long history together. Shazam was one of the first apps available when we launched the App Store and has become a favorite app for music fans everywhere." He also added that the combined teams of the two entities will be able "to provide users even more great ways to discover, experience and enjoy music" but did not provide any other details.

For those who want some figures, it should be enough to mention over 1 billion downloads so far, 20 million daily uses to identify an audio sequence, and more than 30 billion "Shazams" until October 2016.

The reported acquisition price was — in December 2017 — US$400 million. However, there was no official confirmation of this figure until now. The best part of it all is that the app will soon become ad-free for all users. 

Considering the fact that Google Assistant does an excellent job at recognizing songs or movies based on the audio it "hears," the question is how many Android users are still using it. If you are still a Shazam follower with an Android handset, please let us know what you think in the comments.