Tuesday saw Apple officially shut down social media analytics firm Topsy Labs, a Twitter data mining specialist the Cupertino firm acquired in a $200 million deal back in 2013.
Topsy fittingly made the announcement on its official Twitter page, saying, “We’ve searched our last tweet.” The company’s website is no longer active and now forwards to an Apple Support Document explaining iOS 9 search capabilities, including new features like proactive Siri Suggestions.
Topsy provided analysis of tweets and other Twitter data allowing clients to break down market trends in real-time. offering the ability for firms to do things like measure an ad campaign’s effectiveness. The company was one of only four “certified data resellers” that had exclusive rights to collect and resell Twitter data.
When Apple acquired Topsy in 2013, the iPhone maker didn’t disclose what plans they may have had for using the analytics firm’s technology, but observers speculated that the company’s access to Twitter data would aid Apple with everything from iAds to Siri.
Topsy’s website forwards to Apple’s own website to the page featuring the iOS 9 search functions, which likely makes use of the acquired company’s technology. A new Proactive feature that uses data from Siri, Calendar, third-party apps and more to deliver more relevant search results to users could possibly be a result of the acquisition.
