Apple Acquires BroadMap, Catch in 2013

This year has been a startup acquisition year for Apple. From the horses mouth, CEO Tim Cook told investors in the fourth-quarter earnings call that 15 companies had been folded into the Apple corporation. Ten of those companies have already been officially confirmed, but there are still five more that we don’t know about yet.

Apple blog 9to5Mac decided to do some research and try to track down the unnamed five. Two companies were revealed to have been picked up by Apple in 2013 that weren’t mentioned previously. Mapping firm BroadMap was purchased within the first half of the year, and the Evernote competitor Catch was added to the roster just a few months ago.

According to 9to5Mac, BroadMap is a comprehensive mapping firm that focuses on mapping, sorting, and analyzing mapping data. The company claims to be capable of assisting Apple in improving mapping data for iOS and OSX.

BroadMap’s service would not be seamlessly integrated into Apple’s native Map app in its current form. However, the collection and dispersing of important data while using the Maps app seems to fit into one of Apple’s recent patent approvals.

The other unofficially confirmed business to jump in the back seat with Apple is Catch. This note-taking and article-storing app has been regarded by some as a competitor to Evernote. It utilizes similar storing and sharing mechanics. Plus the software can be used to integrate with certain native functions of iOS, like Reminders and Notes. According to 9to5Mac, Catch could be used in conjunction with Siri to help smooth out Apple’s user interface and iCloud service.

While Apple does not confirm these acquisitions at this time, 5to5Mac did plenty of research to come up with these two names. There is a chance that, by the time iOS 8 launches, the native Maps app will include layered data and Reminders and Notes will get supercharged.

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