Apple, Inc. has acquired BookLamp to beat Amazon's e-book service.

BookLamp is a start-up that develops big data-style book analytics services. It's based in Boise, Idaho.

The start-up is popularly known for a product called the Book Genome Project. It's a platform that allows users to find suggested books to read based on the natural language analysis of other titles.

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The start-up's tech and talent can help Apple improve its iBooks service with better title recommendations, search, and categorization.

Aaron Stanton, CEO of BookLamp, did not comment on the acquisition. Apple has been too strict about publishing statements on the companies it purchases.

BookLamp can help Apple become a serious competitor to Amazon X-Ray, a service that allows readers to see where and how frequently terms or characters pop up in a book.

It's useful for the classification of books into categories or flagging titles with sexual and violent content not suitable for kids.

BookLamp's algorithm can enhance the output of Apple's human editors who select which content to highlight on the iBooks home-screen.

Currently, the iBooks app does not focus on customizing readers' needs. It only offers Top Lists such as featured titles, author spotlights, App Store, and categories. It does not recommend any related titles.

Apple needs BookLamp in offering extra value by trusted recommendations to the readers.

Techcrunch, a technology news website, said that Apple confirmed they're buying smaller companies from time to time without discussing the purpose of each acquisition. 

TagsiBooks, Apple Inc., Amazon, Amazon X-ray, digital textbook, online books, book app, BookLamp