Apple has apparently acquired another personal assistant company. It’s called Cue, and it’s the startup firm behind the personal assistant app for iPhone, of the same name, which shut down earlier this week.
The company, formerly known as Greplin, was a Y Combinator alumnus, announced to its users on Tuesday that the service would be shutting down, and that premium users would receive a prorated refund…
AppleInsider was first to report the acquisition:
“An anonymous tipster claimed on Thursday that Apple is buying Cue, which was formerly known as Greplin, for between $35 million and $45 million. The startup was a Y Combinator venture capital alumnus that reportedly obtained funding from both Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures.”
And TechCrunch received confirmation from Apple:
“Hi Ingrid, thank you for your interest in Apple. Here is our statement on this: Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”
For those unfamiliar with Cue, the app pulled together Gmail, Google Calendar, Facebook and other accounts, and using ‘sophisticated algorithms’ provided a personalized overview of your daily events/activities.
While Apple’s plans for Cue and its staff are unknown, it seems likely that the company could use its technology in the new Notification Center in iOS 7—particularly the ‘Today’ view, which serves a similar purpose.