Apple Buys Chomp to Revamp App Store

With 500,000 apps and counting, the Apple App Store is getting a little tough to navigate. But Apple aims to put an end to that with its recent purchase of Chomp, a San Francisco-based start-up which makes a search engine for mobile apps.

PC Magazine reports that Apple is planning on revamping its App Store with the acquisition of Chomp. But what’s going to change isn’t exactly clear. Amy Bessette, a spokeswoman for Apple, said:

“We buy smaller technology companies from time to time and generally don’t comment on our purposes or plans.”

Business Week reports that Apple purchased Chomp for about $50 million, which is pocket change considering that Apple is sitting on close to $100 billion.

Chomp, which also has search engines for android devices, bills itself as a “search engine that finds the apps you want.” Chomp writes on its website that users can search based on what apps do instead of what apps are called.

“Chomp’s proprietary algorithm learns the functions and topics of apps, so you can search based on what apps do, not just what they’re called. Try searching for “puzzle games”, “kids games”, “expense trackers”, “tip calculators” or “chat” and start finding great apps.”

The acquisition comes as Apple closes in on 25 billion downloads from the App Store. The App Store currently has about 550,000 apps available.

TechCrunch reports that Chomp has about 20 employees. All of the employees are expected to make the journey to Apple in order to make the App Store a more user friendly experience.