Bloomberg takes a look at Apple's spate of corporate acquisitions over the past six months, which has seen the company reverse a long-standing policy of making very infrequent deals with its recent purchases of Quattro Wireless, Lala Media, Intrinsity, and Siri. In particular, the report points to the growing rivalry between Apple and Google, stoked in large part on the acquisitions front by Google reportedly swooping in to snatch mobile advertising firm AdMob just as Apple was looking to finalize a deal to do so.
One interesting tidbit included in the report is evidence that Apple has sometimes moved very quickly when looking to make an acquisition, even giving targets as little as three hours to agree to a deal.
Apple's increased interest in corporate acquisitions was noted earlier this year, with the company's hiring of its first dedicated mergers and acquisitions specialist last year possibly signaling the priority shift.
Apple has traditionally shied away from such acquisitions, preferring to develop its technology in-house with its own culture and only occasionally engaging in purchases of much smaller companies. Even then, Apple has been tight-lipped about its plans for those companies, sometimes pursuing specific technologies or intellectual property and other times primarily looking to acquire talented individuals for its own projects.
Article Link: Apple's Evolving Corporate Acquisition Strategy Examined
