Apple Said to Pay About $50 Million for Application-Search Startup Chomp

Apple acquired San Francisco-based Chomp Inc., which helps users sort through the widening array of software applications for mobile devices.

Apparently, Apple paid about $50 million for Chomp. “We buy smaller technology companies from time to time and generally don’t comment on our purposes or plans,” said Amy Bessette, a spokeswoman for Apple. Chomp’s software lets people search through the hundreds of thousands of downloadable applications available for Apple’s iPad and iPhone, as well as gadgets running Google Inc.’s Android operating system. Users can enter queries such as “tip calculator” or “kids games” to get different options of apps that fit those descriptions. Apple’s App Store has been criticized by some developers as difficult to navigate beyond the few programs in featured areas on the site.