While the whole world is looking at Apple in great anticipation for the next-generation iPhone, which is expected to debut later this year, Apple continues to mind its own business and add more stuff to its already impressive portfolio. The latest news revolving around the Cupertino, California tech giant is the recent acquisition of Redmatica, a small Italian music-editing software maker, in a deal that could boost Apple's own music offerings.
News of the acquisition first surfaced on the Italian blog Fanpage on Wednesday, May 30, and was picked up by TechCrunch the same day. The Italian blog reportedly found evidence of the new deal in a document from the Italian communications regulator AGCOM. Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the reported acquisition.
The small Italian Redmatica focuses on building and selling digital music-editing software. The company's offerings consist of four products, including tools for editing, sampling, and library management, and all of them are designed to run on Apple's Mac OS X. The company's main product is KeyMap Pro, and editor for sampled instruments. Redmatica's Web site was operational on Wednesday afternoon, after news of the acquisition surfaced, but there was no mention of such a deal.
Apple already has several music offerings of its own, including GarageBand - a software application for Mac OS X and iOS, allowing casual music makers to create music or podcasts - and Logic Pro, a professional-quality digital audio workstation. Apple has also gobbled up other digital music companies in the past.
In 2000, Apple acquired SoundJam MP, the predecessor for its now-popular iTunes. Two years later, in 2002, it bought Emagic, the company behind Logic Pro. A few years later, in 2009, Apple picked up LaLa.com, a streaming music service. The new acquisition of Redmatica has not been confirmed yet, but would add to Apple's music offerings for a more diverse range of options.
Apple CEO Tim Cook kicked off the Wall Street Journal tenth edition of D: All Things Digital conference, but did not offer any specific details on the company's plans for future products and offerings. Keeping things under wraps, in typical Apple fashion, Cook did say however that Apple is "going to introduce some great stuff. I think you're going to love it."
