Apple to Acquire Redmatica – An Italian Digital Music Editing Software Firm

TechCrunch reports that according to Italian blog Fanpage, Apple has acquired Redmatica - a startup based in  Correggio, Italy that develops digital music-editing apps such as Keymap Pro, AutoSampler and ProManager.

Fanpage has also managed to get hold of a document from the Italian communications regulator AGCOM, which seems to confirm the news.

MacStories provides some more details on the acquisition based on information available in the Italian document:

The document notes how Redmatica’s worldwide revenue in 2011 has been under €1 million, with, surprisingly, no revenue (“fatturato”) coming from Italy. Apple, on the other hand, reported, according to the document, approximately €77,6 billion revenue worldwide in the fiscal year 2011 (2010/2011 as noted in the document), €19.9 billion in the European Union, and “over €1 billion” in Italy alone.

As for the DAW software, the AGCOM filing notes how Redmatica holds a share less than 1%, while Apple holds around 10/15% among “several and qualified competitors”. The document explains how DAW software may fall under the category of “business software”, as DAW applications allow for recording, editing, mixing, and playback of digital music, and are typically used by sound professionals, but also “prosumers” (“expert amateur users” in the document), musicians, and DJs.

Federico Viticci of MacStories also notes that Apple is likely to get a go-ahead from Italian authorities as AGCOM believes that acquisition should be safe for competition as Apple is not a big player in the “DAW” (Digital Audio Workstation) space.

It is not clear how much Apple has paid for Redmatica or how Apple plans to use Redmatica expertise in its existing suite of digital audio applications.