Apple confirms Topsy Labs purchase

Apple has confirmed it has completed the purchase of social analytics firm Topsy Labs.

Although Apple did not give details of the deal, it is thought it will aim to use data collected by the company to track customer sentiment on Twitter.

It is the second acquisition Apple has made in the last few weeks, with the firm recently announcing it has bought the Israeli motion sensor manufacturer PrimeSense, which is behind the Kinect system used in Microsoft's Xbox games consoles.

A spokesperson for Apple stated that the company does not reveal its "purpose" following the acquisition of smaller technology companies.

Sanjana Chappalli, Asia-Pacific head of LEWIS Pulse, which is a firm specialising in digital marketing services, told the BBC that it will become increasingly important for companies to be able to analyse data from Twitter and other social networks.

"For companies to be able to understand what is popular with these users and what they are interested in, and then use it to their advantage, they need to filter the content and understand it," she said.

Apple's share price is down by around one per cent today (December 3rd) on the back of the news.

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