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Presumably this was an acqui-hire. The people who wrote the Primephonic app would then be expected to write the one for Apple, likely based on their original co

Presumably this was an acqui-hire. The people who wrote the Primephonic app would then be expected to write the one for Apple, likely based on their original codebase. I remember when Apple bought SoundJam MP [1] and turned it into iTunes (and later renamed Music) so this is a familiar story. Apple has a chance at a fresh start with this one. I’m willing to give them a shot at it. If they mess it up I can always cancel the sub. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoundJam_MP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoundJam_MP

comprev 5y ago
The existing iOS app is programmed by approx < 2 devs. They have an Android app which Apple will quickly shut down. The infra can be run by < 2 ops too. I predict most of the dev team will be looking for a new gig soon... shame as they were a great bunch!
- ribosometronome 5y ago
  >They have an Android app which Apple will quickly shut down. Why would they do that? Apple Music and AppleTV are both available on Android.
kemayo 5y ago
Could also have been a purchase for their licensing or metadata. It sounds like Primephonic has put a lot of work into all of that, and if Apple wants to get into classical then it'd make sense to throw a tiny-by-their-standards amount of money at a known-good metadata set and accompanying licenses for the music. (Though I agree, it'd be kind of silly for them to not let the people they've acqui-hired keep on working on the "new" app in their domain.)
- comprev 5y ago
  100% this.
- minusf 5y ago
  i also think this is the case, as the user base must be tiny still (esp when looking at the comments here, even classical music fans didn't know about it. i found it through the "inside the score" youtube channel)
kall 5y ago
And the original apple music app was based on Beats Music as well! I‘ve heard the theory that they bought Beats for that, and the music industry contacts, which seems wild, but maybe?

comprev 5y ago

The existing iOS app is programmed by approx < 2 devs. They have an Android app which Apple will quickly shut down. The infra can be run by < 2 ops too. I predict most of the dev team will be looking for a new gig soon... shame as they were a great bunch!

ribosometronome 5y ago
>They have an Android app which Apple will quickly shut down. Why would they do that? Apple Music and AppleTV are both available on Android.

kemayo 5y ago

Could also have been a purchase for their licensing or metadata. It sounds like Primephonic has put a lot of work into all of that, and if Apple wants to get into classical then it'd make sense to throw a tiny-by-their-standards amount of money at a known-good metadata set and accompanying licenses for the music. (Though I agree, it'd be kind of silly for them to not let the people they've acqui-hired keep on working on the "new" app in their domain.)

comprev 5y ago
100% this.
minusf 5y ago
i also think this is the case, as the user base must be tiny still (esp when looking at the comments here, even classical music fans didn't know about it. i found it through the "inside the score" youtube channel)

kall 5y ago

And the original apple music app was based on Beats Music as well! I‘ve heard the theory that they bought Beats for that, and the music industry contacts, which seems wild, but maybe?