Apple aims to improve App Store search with $50m Chomp buy

Apple is aiming to improve the search and discover features in its App Store, with the purchase of Australian start-up Chomp, in a deal rumoured to be worth $50m.

Chomp develops tools that help users find new and relevant applications, both on iOS and Android devices.

The deal, first announced by TechCrunch, will help Apple improve its own search systems as its store now boasts over 500,000 apps.

Furthermore, Apple rumour site 9to5mac.com said sources have confirmed Chomp chief executive Ben Keighran and chief technology officer Cathy Edwards have already moved to Apple.

The site claims Keighran is working with the iTunes marketing team and Edwards is a senior iTunes engineer.

Bloomberg later claimed the deal was worth $50m, although this is unconfirmed.

Apple did not confirm the deal outright, but in a statement acknowledged it does make acquisitions from time to time.

"We buy smaller technology companies from time to time and generally don't comment on our purposes or plans," it said.

V3 contacted Chomp for comment but had received no reply at the time of publication.

The deal comes at the same time that Apple held its annual shareholder meeting in California, during which chief executive Tim Cook spoke on a number of issues around the company's future, including what the company may do with its huge cash reserves of $100bn.

"On cash, we've been thinking about cash very deeply, the board has been looking into what is in shareholders' best interest," he said, according to a live blog of the event by cbnc.com.

"We will do what we think is in the best interest of shareholders."

Cook also dodged a question put to him indirectly asking if Apple was planning on launching its own television product.

Apple is rumoured to be considering entering the TV market after comments made by Steve Jobs that appeared in his biography were interpreted to mean that the firm will use Siri as a voice controller for any such device.