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Apple acquires personal assistant app Cue

Apple acquires personal assistant app Cue

By Anupam Saxena | Updated: 4 October 2013 15:29 IST

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Apple has reportedly acquired Cue, a personal assistant app that had announced on Wednesday that it was shutting down.

The value of the deal has not been announced but according to a report by TechCrunch, the company has been acquired at an amount between $35 million and $60 million. Apple has not specifically confirmed the acquisition, offering just a boilerplate statement saying that it buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and generally does not discuss its purpose or plans.

Cue started as Greplin, a search focused startup that indexed users' online accounts and allowed for easy searching. Currently, Cue ties all information from the user's online accounts together, and surfaces useful information at the right time - similar to Google Now.
The Cue app in its search parameters includes the users' email, contacts and calendars, Facebook posts, Dropbox files and LinkedIn accounts, among others, and then offers intelligent suggestions on contacting people, as well as provide itinerary and travel related information based on the user's daily schedule and appointments.

As per Cue's app listing page on iTunes, it turns the user's email, contacts and calendar into an intelligent snapshot of the user's day and enhances the calendar by automatically connecting related emails, phone numbers, and addresses.

According to the TechCrunch report, Cue will not be shut down post-acquisition, though its app has been withdrawn from the App Store.

It's possible that Apple will use the company's technology to enhance its voice-driven personal assistant, Siri, which currently isn't very popular. It's worth pointing out that the Google Now personal assistant, which comes with Android Jelly Bean smartphones and tablets, by integrating Google services in a similar manner, offers some functionality we can see in the Cue app.

As we mentioned, the app has been shut down and a notice informing users of the same has been put up on Cue's website. Here's a copy of the text from the notice:

We appreciate all of the support from you, our users, as Cue has grown over the last few years. However, the Cue service is no longer available.

Cue Premium users who registered through the website will receive a prorated refund. Cue Premium users registered though the iPhone App can request a refund through iTunes. In accordance with our privacy policy, your data and personal information will not be stored or transferred; it has been permanently deleted.

We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause you. It's been an incredible journey that wouldn't have been possible without your loyal support.

Our sincerest thanks,
- The Cue Team

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Further reading: Apple, Cue, Greplin