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April 7, 2015

Apple secretly snaps up Ottocat to boost App Store searches

Ottocat was reportedly acquired by Apple in 2013.

By CBR Staff Writer

Apple has improved search and navigation function in the App Store with its secret acquisition of a startup dubbed Ottocat.

The company reportedly has kept the acquisition under wraps, which reportedly helped the company boost the search and navigation faction in the App Store.

Tech Crunch reported that Ottocat developed a system that showed up apps on app stores based on "nested" categories of increasing specificity, and reportedly a version of the system presently powers "explore" tab in Apple‘s App Store.

The ‘Explore’ tab in App Store allows users find apps in different categories along with similar apps.

According to reports, Ottocat used technology to address the pain points of app developers who wanted to make their apps stand out in the crowd and help customers to make their searches easier and simpler.

The company introduced methods to subcategorise the searches to present precise results that users might find relevant, instead of showing all the apps under a particular keyword.

The tech website also highlighted that Ottocat had a short lifespan, as the company opened its beta to public in May 2013, and by October of the same year the website displayed a message saying "Ottocat is no longer available."

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The report hints that Apple might have acquired Ottocat in 2013, but did not make the deal public.

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