Earlier this year, Apple acquired the company behind the Scout FM app, Bloomberg reports. Apple has confirmed the acquisition in its usual boilerplate terms but has declined to add any further comment. The app was removed from the App Store after the acquisition.
Scout FM was an app that tried to recreate the feeling of a radio station but for podcasts, using an AI-based recommendation engine based on users’ listening habits. For example, if you usually listen to sport content, Scout FM put together an automatically produced ‘station’ with selected relevant sports podcasts.
The app had gained some popularity and worked with CarPlay, among other things. In addition to Apple’s platform, it was also available for Alexa.
Apple has been busy in the acquisition space this year. In addition to Scout FM, it’s snapped up the VR companies NextVR and Spaces, the device management company Fleetsmith and the weather app Dark Sky. And since we wrote this article, Bloomberg has suggested that Apple might like to buy the struggling car manufacturer McLaren.
This article originally appeared on Macworld Sweden. Translation by David Price.