Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Acquires BroadMap Mapping Firm, Catch Note-Taking Company; Mixed Reports Confirm, Deny Acquisitions

Apple Inc. reportedly acquired a mapping firm earlier this year, but it may have finally been confirmed right as 2013 concludes.

According to reports, the Cupertino-based company purchased BroadMap along with several products and services related to the mapping firm.

As TechCrunch noted, seven BroadMap employees changed their employer name to Apple on their LinkedIn accounts as of March this year.

"My theory in this case is that BroadMap had a number of longer-term existing contracts in place with clients that would've made termination of those deals expensive and messy for Apple," reported Darrell Etherington. "Better to gut the company of its talent, keep BroadMap alive in name only as a delivery vehicle for tech that Apple now owns but licenses, and keep it staffed with a skeleton crew to make that happen (with new developments around geo software from the team that built it going directly to Apple, without a requirement to share)."

A tweet, however, allegedly from the official BroadMap account, dismissed the acquisition claims.

James Fee of Spatially Adjusted featured the tweet by BroadMap, "Sorry to disappoint everyone but contrary to current reports @BroadMap has not been purchased by Apple."

Another reported acquisition is the note-taking app Catch, which some note to be similar to Evernote.

Catch has been regarded for its ability to synchronize between a cloud service and order media and text files. Catch reportedly ceased operations in August citing "difficult decision to take the company in a different direction." It appears, however, the company launched a new enterprise named Catch Team.

"Catch could help Apple in several potential manners: Catch could be used to integrate with Siri for reminders and notes functions, integrate with the Notes and Reminders iOS/OS X apps, assist Apple with mobile user-interfaces, and help out Apple's iCloud team," noted Mark Gurman of 9to5Mac.

AllThingsD's Ina Fried clarified the alleged acquisitions. According to Fried, an Apple spokesperson "essentially confirmed" the acquisitions.

"Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans," a Cupertino spokesperson said in a statement.

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