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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,279
30,341



wavii.jpg
Google has bought aggregation and summarization startup Wavii for more than $30 million, winning a bidding war with Apple over the firm. TechCrunch is reporting that Apple wanted to integrate the company with its Siri division.
Both Apple and Google were competing for the Seattle-based startup, and Google eventually won. Apple wanted the company, which developed its own aggregation technology and natural summarizaton algorithms, for its Siri division. The 25-person-strong team including founder Adrian Aoun will be moving down from Seattle to join Google's Knowledge Graph division.
With more than $135 billion in cash, the $30 million price tag would not have been a significant outlay for Apple, but it appears the company did not value Wavii enough to outbid Google. Wavii had raised $2 million in venture funding.

wavii1.jpg
Wavii's iOS app automatically delivers news and status updates on customized topics to users and is available free for iPhone on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Article Link: Google Buying Wavii After Bidding War With Apple
 

Furifo

macrumors 6502
Jun 1, 2010
277
7
I feel that had Apple would have outbid Google if they felt this company could add significant value to a product that they have been aggressively promoting - Siri. If they decided not to outbid Google then they probably figured the company wasn't valuable enough for them to match what Google was willing to pay.
 

brinycbri

macrumors 6502a
Mar 13, 2007
514
0
They would buy through cash not equity shares.
 
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brinycbri

macrumors 6502a
Mar 13, 2007
514
0
try quoting what post your referring to

Please disregard what I wrote as it has been invalidated by non quote usage.

Try reading up several posts above or do you want me to point to it for you as well?
 
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Rocketman

macrumors 603
It's pretty clear the $30m threshold is the point at which Apple could author their own code to match the functionality or the stretch functionality they had in mind to begin with. Apple tends to buy firms for the personnel not the tech anyway. Now it will be interesting to see which employees they poach.

Rocketman
 

Northgrove

macrumors 65816
Aug 3, 2010
1,149
437
Interesting. :) I liked this app, although I've kind of forgotten about it. It could perhaps be a bit better structured with various topics to follow categorized better, and so on. But best of all is the AI! I could have sworn it was curated by a human, but supposedly it isn't? I'm not really sure... I can absolutely understand Google wanting this. It's an interesting algorithm, and making search more intelligent.
 

goodcow

macrumors 6502a
Aug 4, 2007
744
993
It's pretty clear the $30m threshold is the point at which Apple could author their own code to match the functionality

Except Apple has proven time and time again that they're too cheap to hire more engineers to actually keep dedicated resources on projects, and instead shuffle teams around and let products wither on the vine (currently see: iWork, iLife, Aperture, etc.)
 

alent1234

macrumors 603
Jun 19, 2009
5,688
170
But come one
Poor apple has margins to worry about


Except Apple has proven time and time again that they're too cheap to hire more engineers to actually keep dedicated resources on projects, and instead shuffle teams around and let products wither on the vine (currently see: iWork, iLife, Aperture, etc.)
 

thekev

macrumors 604
Aug 5, 2010
7,005
3,343
Any chance they can't outbid Google, because the share price tanked while GOOG still seems to be flying?

That would make any sense. If a portion of the sale was to be paid in stock, it would cost them more shares. In either case, neither side will bid indefinitely to the limit of their funds.
 

camnchar

macrumors 6502
Jan 26, 2006
434
415
That would make any sense. If a portion of the sale was to be paid in stock, it would cost them more shares. In either case, neither side will bid indefinitely to the limit of their funds.

Now that would have been a news story. "Apple buys Wavii for $124 billion."
 

Poll Smoker

macrumors 6502a
Jul 20, 2007
684
1
I feel that had Apple would have outbid Google if they felt this company could add significant value to a product that they have been aggressively promoting - Siri. If they decided not to outbid Google then they probably figured the company wasn't valuable enough for them to match what Google was willing to pay.

You think?
 

dysamoria

macrumors 68020
Dec 8, 2011
2,243
1,865
Ah yes, content aggregators. The latest fad in the tech industry of creating a product that has no value of its own. I remember the dot com bubble...

The computer industry is the ultimate short-term-gains productless, industry. That's why there's "so much money" in tech business. It panders to the short-sighted opportunistic attitude better than any other.
 

BMNB1tch

macrumors regular
Jan 20, 2009
135
0
wavii looks like a dumb service

however Apple's web properties need a serious revamp and debug

because they barely freaking work :(
 
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