As the personal assistant space heats up with Google Now, Siri and other third-party apps, Apple looks to be in the market to better your daily organisation, so you're not late to your next meeting.

Apple has acquired Cue, a personal assistant app once available on the App Store. The news was first reported by Apple Insider and subsequently confirmed by TechCrunch, which claimed the buy price is between $40 million and $60 million.

Apple is known for buying smaller technology companies, as we've seen in recent months. The company wouldn't provide specific confirmation, just that it "buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans". No, Apple isn't talking about its own internet software and services head-honcho Eddy Cue.

Cue surprised the app world on Wednesday when it suddenly shut down: "Cue is shutting down. We appreciate all of the support from you, our users, as Cue has grown over the last few years. However, the Cue service is no longer available," the company wrote.

Now we know why this change came about. While it's not available on the App Store any more, we can get an indication of what features Siri, Notification Center and other Apple products may gain after the acquisition.

Cue scanned your email, contacts and calendar to provide "an intelligent snapshot of your day." It pulled Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Google Calendar, Facebook and other accounts together and used algorithms to create a personalised overview of the events and activities of your day. Apple has similar features in its products already, including its Today view in Notification Center, though they're not as advanced Cue.

Cue obviously didn't have key integration in iOS 7, as it was just an app, but the two combined could be a real win-win. 

Blogger Robert Scoble interviewed Cue's CEO Daniel Gross to get more information about the app earlier this year. Check out the video below.