swell Stories July 29, 2014

Apple confirms acquisition of Swell as website and app shut down

- Jul. 29th 2014 9:53 am PT

AAPL Company Apple Podcasts radio recommendations
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Apple’s acquisition of talk-radio service Swell appears to now be a done deal: the start-up’s App Store app and website shut down this morning. The website now provides the following message:

Thank you for using Swell over the past year. We wanted to let you know that the Swell service is no longer available. We’ve been inspired by the opportunity to create quality products that positively impact users’ lives, and we are grateful to all our listeners. Thank you everyone for your support!

 Of course, the website does not outright state that the company was acquired by Apple, but a report from Re/code from earlier this week said that the Apple acquisition would occur this week, and today’s shut down appears to indicate that the deal has been completed for $30 million.
Apple has also confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that it did acquire Swell.

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swell Stories July 27, 2014

Apple to acquire Swell talk radio and podcast app for $30 million

- Jul. 27th 2014 11:22 pm PT

AAPL Company iTunes Podcasts acquisition radio
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Apple appears to be looking to further improve the iTunes Radio service through the $30 million acquisition of a radio application called Swell, Re/code reported early Monday morning. Unlike the $3 billion Beats Electronics (and Beats Music) buyout, however, this purchase centers more on talk radio than music.

Swell currently carries news from sources such as NPR, ABC, ESPN, the BBC, and more, and uses a user’s listening history to create personalized content playlists. Apple, on the other hand, only recently jumped into the streaming news market through iTunes Radio with ESPN and NPR stations, including over 40 local stations.

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