14 DAY TRIAL // Cupertino-based giant Apple has quietly purchased a small Bay Area-based podcast startup called Pop Up Archive in late November, only to then close it and its assets completely.
Pop Up Archive was essentially an online search platform whose main focus was organizing and transcribing audio files, with an additional service called AudioSearch.ch playing the role of a stand-alone podcast search engine.
While there’s a chance that you barely heard about Pop Up Archive, its goal was to build its own innovative podcasting tools, such as a solution that was presented a few years ago and which automatically generated tags for uploaded podcasts.
And this leads us to the reason Apple purchased the company. Apple continues to be one of the biggest players in the podcast business, and by purchasing Pop Up Archive, the company can integrate its services into its own products like iTunes or the Podcast app available on iPhone.
Service shut down in late November
On the other hand, the company hasn’t said anything about the takeover, providing just a generic statement that doesn’t provide us with any useful information.
“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” the firm says.
Pop Up Archive is no longer available and visitors to its website are provided with a message that reads “Hey there! Pop Up Archive shut down operations and ended support on 11/28/17.” The adjacent search service has also closed in late November and now the following message is displayed: “Hey there! We ended operations and support for Audiosear.ch on 11/28/17. We've loved seeing what you've built with this technology and are grateful for your support over the years.”
It’s not yet clear when the takeover actually took place, but Pop Up Archive posted last month on Twitter to ask its users to download their content as soon as possible. Surprisingly, however, the service shut down only a day after this message was posted on Twitter.