Apple HQ in Cupertino, CA
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In a move that sets up Apple as a more viable competitor to Amazon, the company has purchased the internet startup BookLamp, David Murphy reports for PC Magazine.

There were signs of change at BookLamp for anybody who was looking for them; employees of the Idaho-based company were posting frequent status updates from the Bay Area lately, and its primary feature—the Book Genome Project—was abandoned in April without any explanation. Still, both sides had remained tight-lipped about the deal until it was final. Apple confirmed it over the weekend, issuing what Murphy says is its “standard comment” in such matters: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”

BookLamp, meanwhile, has effectively shut down its site, with only this statement there now:

Thank you for your support…

We would like to thank you for the support we’ve received over the years in our efforts to explore the exciting world of the written word through digital anaylsis. As of today, though, the BookLamp.org site — which has served as a technology demo for the Book Genome Project — will no longer be available as our company evolves its mission.

Thank you again for your active involvement and partcipation over the past several years. It is our users, publishers, and our mutual love of books that inspires us day in and day out.

Thank you for being part of the journey to date.

The Book Genome Project, which is likely what drew Apple’s attention, has been described as a “Pandora for books,” because of the way it makes recommendations based on themes and how frequently they appear in any particular book. In an interview with Publishing Perspectives, CEO Aaron Stanton cited The Da Vinci Code as an example, explaining, that it “contains 18.6% Religion and Religious Institutions, 9.4% Police & Murder Investigation, 8.2% Art and Art Galleries, and 6.7% Secret Societies & Communities.” Based on those numbers, BookLamp would point you to titles with similar themes.

It’s not a particularly literary way of thinking about reading (and seems to ignore silly things like actual quality of writing), but it is apparently effective. And enough so that Apple reportedly spent $10-15 million on the technology designed to “beat Amazon at its own game.”