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There's probably a handful of acquisitions in this release cycle: WiFiSLAM in 2013 PrimeSense in 2013 LinX in 2015 Metaio in 2015 Faceshift in 2015 Emotie
by IBM 9y ago
There's probably a handful of acquisitions in this release cycle:
WiFiSLAM in 2013
PrimeSense in 2013
LinX in 2015
Metaio in 2015
Faceshift in 2015
Emotient in 2016
Flyby Media in 2016
RealFace in 2017
and probably more that isn't obvious to me.
It was reported by Bloomberg, funnily enough in an article framed as Apple struggling in M&A [1], that Metaio took a lowball offer:
>Apple often refuses to work with investment bankers appointed by the seller, preferring to deal directly with company management, according to people who have been involved in such negotiations. Apple also dictates terms and tells targets to take it or leave it, betting that the promise of product development support later and the chance of appearing in future iPhones are alluring enough, the people said.
>That was the case when Apple acquired Metaio GmbH in 2015. Bankers appointed by the augmented-reality firm to negotiate weren’t allowed in the room, and while Metaio executives felt the offer was low, Apple’s vision for the technology convinced them to sell, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
>Apple’s current M&A strategy works well for acquiring startups developing new technology that can be added to existing Apple products. It bought 15 to 20 companies per year over the last four years. But buying larger companies presents a different challenge, particularly if there are rival bids. Bankers often diffuse tension between bidders and targets, but Apple’s approach can make that process difficult.
>“There’s a swagger -- you may call it arrogance -- about the culture there,” said Risley of Architect Partners. “They’re used to being able to muscle their way in and get attractive economics.”
Which seems completely logical on Metaio's part. It's obvious a lot of these startups working on fundamental technologies are just going to toil in obscurity, and selling to Apple is a chance to have your technology deployed and used in the biggest way possible.
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-15/apple-struggles-to-make-big-deals-hampering-strategy-shifts https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-15/apple-str...
- Steko 9y agoIt hasn't been confirmed but it's highly likely the X has a liquidmetal back. Apple's had an exclusive arrangement for quite awhile and this would be the first significant use of it.
- TheCoreh 9y agoIsn't the back glass to allow for wireless charging?
- Steko 9y agoPrimarily yes but, to be clear, liquidmetal is a (metallic) glass. So yes Apple's main reason is for wireless charging but they also want to differentiate where they can and liquidmetal gives them "the hardest glass in a smartphone ever." (Ive quote). Analysis and background including a very relevent patent application made a year ago and published in March for "using Liquid Metal (Metallic Glass) for the Backside of an iPhone": http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2017/09/apples-liquid-metal-backside-flexible-wraparound-oled-display-for-reducing-the-bezel-are-patents-fulfilled.html http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2017/09/apples-l...
- varjag 9y ago>That was the case when Apple acquired Metaio GmbH in 2015. Bankers appointed by the augmented-reality firm to negotiate weren’t allowed in the room, and while Metaio executives felt the offer was low, Apple’s vision for the technology convinced them to sell, according to a person familiar with the discussions. In other words, the offer was realistic.
- mavhc 9y agoI searched for all those companies, so you don't have to: https://thenextweb.com/apple/2013/03/26/what-exactly-wifislam-is-and-why-apple-acquired-it/ https://thenextweb.com/apple/2013/03/26/what-exactly-wifisla... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PrimeSense https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PrimeSense Kinect technology https://techcrunch.com/2015/04/14/apple-buys-linx-a-camera-module-maker-promising-dslr-like-mobile-performance/ https://techcrunch.com/2015/04/14/apple-buys-linx-a-camera-m... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaio https://techcrunch.com/2015/11/24/apple-faceshift/ https://techcrunch.com/2015/11/24/apple-faceshift/ http://uk.businessinsider.com/how-emotient-ai-works-2016-1 http://uk.businessinsider.com/how-emotient-ai-works-2016-1 https://techcrunch.com/2016/01/29/apple-furthers-its-vr-plans-with-acquisition-of-flyby-media-makers-of-tech-that-sees-the-world-around-you/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/01/29/apple-furthers-its-vr-plan... https://9to5mac.com/2017/02/19/apple-face-recognition-company-realface/ https://9to5mac.com/2017/02/19/apple-face-recognition-compan...