Apple Acquired 20 Companies Across 2014, 7 In Fiscal Fourth Quarter

[MacRumors]

During today's fourth quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that Apple purchased 20 companies over the course of 2014, including seven companies during the fiscal fourth quarter. Of the 20 companies purchased, some remain known, but many remain unknown.

Apple's biggest purchase of fiscal 2014 was Beats Electronics, which the company bought for $3 billion in May. With the acquisition, it gained Beats popular line of headphones, the Beats Music music service, and it took on Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, aka Andre Young, as executives.

Other recent known acquisitions in fiscal 2014 include iPad-publishing platform Prss, book recommendation platform BookLamp, radio streaming app Swell, social recommendation service Spotsetter, and low-power display company LuxVue.

Last quarter, Apple announced that it had acquired 30 companies thus far in fiscal 2014, which brings the total number of acquisitions since last October up to approximately 37. While some of those acquisitions were known, many of Apple's acquisitions were kept quiet, going under the radar.

The technology from Apple's acquisitions will undoubtedly make its way into future products and updates, and details on its acquisitions may become apparent over time.

Earlier this year, Apple CEO Tim Cook said Apple was "on the prowl" for additional companies to acquire and that Apple is always looking at acquisition space to avoid letting "money burn a hole in our pocket."

Article Link: Apple Acquired 20 Companies Across 2014, 7 In Fiscal Fourth Quarter

 

[Joe-Diver]

Keep on growing! But don't make stupid mistakes....like JCP buying Eckerds or BofA buying Countrywide....

 

[cleirac]

20 + 1 doomed companies!

 

[TechGod]

I wonder what the unknown companies are...

 

[needfx]

sounds like a shopping binge

 

[SoAnyway]

Time for me to think of some awesome idea so that Apple can purchase it along with me for a billion dollars!

 

[Tankmaze]

Earlier this year, Apple CEO Tim Cook said Apple was "on the prowl" for additional companies to acquire and that Apple is always looking at acquisition space to avoid letting "money burn a hole in our pocket."

Apple, buy GT advanced.

 

[576316]

Seems like a silly thing to suggest, but is there ever a chance that Apple could get too big and wealthy?

 

[sundog925]

can they buy developers/engineers who actually know what they're doing?

iOS 8.0.1 anybody?

that ***** is priceless…..

 

[johnnyturbouk]

Apple's biggest purchase of fiscal 2014 was Beats Electronics, which the company bought for $3 billion in May.

Biggest waste of money since 18, poor unsuspecting luddites brought a Microsoft surface tab

 

[DJsteveSD]

Netflix!

 

[moldy lunchbox]

Just buy everything and become a monopoly Muahahha

 

[nuckinfutz]

Software

A Tasty Pixel –
Why? Audiobus is kicking butt and taking names. Apple should acquihire Michael Tyson and integrate the best features of Audiobus with Inter App Audio and rule the tablet audio production market.

JAMF Software –
Why? Upgrades to Macs and OS X are becoming more complex. Acquire JAMF and make Casper Suite scale from the Technophile home to SMB. Leave the high end for Mobile Iron and other MDM companies.

Theory.IO
NoteSuite- Under the radar but well done app that integrates tasks, handwriting and note capture without the subscription fees of Evernote. Perfect complement to iWork or an infusion of technology. Company founded by Peter Tamte an ex Apple, Macsoft and Bungie employee.

With these three Apple is addressing

1. Taking ownership of audio on iOS.
2. Fixing the pain of managing Apple devices
3. Shoring up productivity offerings by adding IP that iWork doesn't have.

 

[cocky jeremy]

Biggest waste of money since 18, poor unsuspecting luddites brought a Microsoft surface tab

All they have to do is sell $3 billion dollars worth of headphones and it's paid for.. and you can bet they'll easily hit that within a few years. Hopefully they up the quality, though.

 

[lotzosushi]

Not surprised, what else are they going to do with all that extra cash lying around?


...certainly not using it for major "innovations" lately

 

[nuckinfutz]

A few more


Major

Vimeo
I love Vimeo for focus on artists and the lack of twerking videos. Vimeo’s problem and success at the same time is that it’s not youtube. It’s not laden with Vevo videos and channels about applying makeup or discussing politics. In short it is more of a fit for Apple and its focus on creatives. They should acquire vimeo, fix the non-intuitive interface, make it a first class citizen in iOS/OS X and video enabled apps. Promote developers through the app with developer accounts where more screencasts of their apps can be viewed.

Minor

Vellum –
A perfect complement to iBook Author. It takes a manuscript and spits out a nice eBook. Problem is the pricing. Apple can make self-publishing a more affordable venture. iBooks author is nice but I’d rather have an Apple tool that lets me target other platforms as well. Perhaps the new more open Apple is up to the challenge

Hype Machine
Music is still popular. Apple needs to stay hip and relevant. Get these guys and mate their stuff with Beats Music. Music Discovery is EVERYTHING

 

[CrazyForApple]

Now to acquire Microsoft, Sony, Samsung, Google, LG, Motorola, Amazon, Sharp, Yamaha, and Bose. Am I missing anyone?

 

[baruch]

Greed

Apple just keeps getting greedier. I wish someone else made a great computer and OS...I like their products but their customer service has deteriorated, I am on hold now...almost an hour...because they flubbed a repair...their CSRs are increasingly ignorant and incompetent. Used to be you'd get someone on the phone fast, they knew what they were doing, repairs were quick and effective...those days are so very gone. Mr. Cook...it's nice that you see so much creativity at Apple, etc, and that you are the richest corporation in the world, but you are losing ground when it comes to quality. I guess the more money they make the less integrity they feel they should have. Pathetic.

 

[farmkittie]

Buy Oracle (so Sun Microsystems and MySQL). That would be a shocker. Wish they would.

 

[FieldingMellish]

If Apple didn't buy them, Google would have.

 

[macs4nw]

Now to acquire Microsoft, Sony, Samsung, Google, LG, Motorola, Amazon, Sharp, Yamaha, and Bose. Am I missing anyone?

I realize that's a tongue-in-cheek comment, because that, even if possible, would be disastrous for consumers.

 

[randian]

Apple has the same problem Warren Buffett was talking about regarding Berkshire Hathaway: way too much money chasing too few suitable deals, and the deals are way too small to have significant impact on the business. Buffett counseled caution in that circumstance, as you will be enticed to overpay and thereby make a low value acquisition just to do a deal.

Apple's cash holdings greatly exceed almost any conceivable operating requirement, and the rest of it sitting around earning 1-2% isn't doing a whole lot. That's why they (IMO) grossly overpaid for Beats.

I'd love Apple to acquire Oracle/Sun and get back into the server business. It'll never happen though. Cook wouldn't conceive of it, and I doubt Ellison would get the rest of the directors to approve it.

 

[joneill55]

Golden Rule: Those who have the gold make the rules

 

[aarinsider]

Wish List

I really wish Apple would invest in premium sound for their notebooks. I was secretly holding out on them acquiring a company like Bowers & Wilkins - can you imagine a Macbook Pro with Retina with Bowers & Wilkins audio!!? Sign me up for two!

The huge acquisitions that Apple missed out on were Evernote and SpringPad. Either of these apps would have given Apple a strong contender to Microsoft's OneNote software and Evernote, especially has taken off and averages $15 million a month or $120 million a year just from subscriptions.

Lastly, with home automation growing I was holding out (pre-Beats of course) for Apple to acquire Sonos and prior to that Nest and Dropcam. Looking back though, Apple hasn't shown much of an interest in home automation so I guess its not a surprise that those didn't pan out.

 

[MMANN113]

Netflix!

I think they would rather have people pay to buy/rent movies and TV on iTunes. :/