App discovery in the iOS App Store is about to get a lot better thanks to Apple's recent acquisition of a company called Chomp. Apple confirmed reports of the acquisition to the Wall Street Journal on Thursday after TechCrunch first reported on the story, but declined to discuss the future for the Chomp team by stating that Apple "generally doesn't discuss its purpose or plans."
Chomp currently offers a free iOS app that allows users to search the App Store using a proprietary algorithm to figure out what apps actually do (instead of just using keywords or app names). The app also allows users to see which apps their Facebook or Twitter friends have reviewed, adding a social networking element to the service. So, for example, you can use Chomp to browse the App Store for categories that may not be available through Apple itself, such as "bengal cats" or "gardening" or "gluten free."
Although Apple won't discuss publicly why it purchased Chomp, the reason seems obvious to anyone who has spent time trying to dig through the mountain of apps on the App Store. App discovery can be a huge problem if you're searching for anything that's not on the top app charts, and the current App Store categories are still quite limited. Apple clearly feels it could improve upon the functionality of the App Store with Chomp's technology, and 9to5Mac cites sources claiming that Chomp CEO Ben Keighran and CTO Cathy Edwards are already working at Apple to help with an upcoming revamp of iTunes.
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