Apple buys Twitter analytics firm Topsy

Apple has purchased Topsy, a social media analytics startup that will help it better understand what people are talking on social networks like Twitter. According to Wall Street Journal , the Cupertino Company could use Topsy’s data to better target ads, inform users about Apple’s products or check for of-the-moment interests. It has reportedly sealed the deal for $200 million.

Topsy has been Twitter’s biggest partners and helps analyse half a billion messages sent over by Twitter everyday. The company indexes the tweets and makes them searchable, something similar to what Google does for the web. It also helps clients analyse tweets for various business trends.

Apple buys Topsy

Ross Rubin, an analyst for Reticle Research, said that Apple could use Topsy’s data analysis to get a better grasp on popular trends on social media and also make product recommendations to people looking for apps, music, movies and so on.

However, it isn’t yet clear, why exactly Apple has bought Topsy. Apple isn’t really known to leverage the social media platform.  Lately, its CEO Tim Cook made a rather belated entry to Twitter soon after the new iPhones were launched. His first tweet was about new iPhones going on sale in the US. Cook tweeted , “Visited Retail Stores in Palo Alto today. Seeing so many happy customers reminds us of why we do what we do.”