Apple Purchases SnappyLabs For Undisclosed Sum

Apple AAPL has made its first confirmed acquisition of 2014 as it continues purchasing small tech startups at a rapid pace.

The company confirmed on Saturday that it purchased the one-man Australian company, SnappyLabs, for an undisclosed price. The company makes SnappyCam, a $1 app that adds features to iPhone camera. The app is best known for a feature that allows the user to take pictures in rapid succession as long as they hold the camera button down.

Electrical engineering PhD, John Papandriopoulos ran the company by himself up until the acquisition. John Papandriopoulos’ girlfriend posted a story on Facebook congratulating him leading media outlets to confirm the story. Later, Apple confirmed the news.

There is no word on whether Apple will shut down the app or keep it on the app store in the short term. Presumably, Apple will integrate the technology into a future version of iOS much like it did with Siri after purchasing the company.

Related: The 10 Apple Acquisitions of 2013

This acquisition proves that Apple isn’t looking to slow its M&A pace after a busy 2013. Last year the company purchased companies like WiFiSLAM in March, Locationary and HotStop.com in July, and Topsy in December to name only a few.

Last year was the year of the map for Apple. It purchased numerous companies in an attempt to bolster its mapping capabilities and take on Google, the company still reigning supreme in mobile mapping software.

Apple, and every other mobile company, knows that camera quality is a big selling point for high end smartphones. Presumably, the company is looking to give its camera features that further set it apart from other smartphone manufacturers.

The industry is still trying to catch to Nokia in the camera space. The company released its 1020 smartphone last year—the first phone able to take 41-megapixel images.

Shares of Apple are down 22 percent from their all-time highs but have staged a comeback in recent months. On Friday, the stock fell 2.2 percent or $12.15 to a closing price of $540.98.

Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Tim Parker had no position in the company mentioned.

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Posted In: NewsM&ATechAppleGoogleLocationarySnappyCam
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