Apple buys personalized playlists service for podcasts

Apple is reportedly buying a personalized playlists service for podcasts. That writes the usually reliable tech site Re/Code. Apple would pay several tens of millions of euros for the service, which was struggling to attract users.

The service, called Swell Radio, is aimed at the North American market and serves podcasts to users based on preferences and which podcasts users have already listened to. According to Re/Code, Apple wants to pay 22 million euros for Swell.

As a result of the acquisition, Swell will render its own apps unusable. The app is already out for iOS and is in beta for Android. According to Re/Code, the app has never been a success, despite investors investing millions of euros in it. The own promo video mainly shows use of the app in the car, for which Swell is said to have been made.

Apple probably wants to refresh its own podcast app with Swell’s people, technology and interface. Apple’s own podcast app is unpopular and gets low ratings in its own App Store.