Acquisition Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

What's Apple going to do with $97 billion in cash?

by Kelly Hodgkins (Jan 24th, 2012)

During its earnings conference call, Apple confirmed the company is sitting on a treasure chest of US$97.6 billion. This stack of cash is steadily growing, up from $81.6 billion at the end of the September quarter. With all that money in the bank, you can't help but wonder... what's Apple going to ...

Apple confirms purchase of flash memory firm Anobit

by Kelly Hodgkins (Jan 11th, 2012)

Apple spokesperson Steve Dowling spoke to Bloomberg's Business Week and confirmed the company purchased Anobit, an Israeli-based flash memory firm. Israeli newspaper Cacalist broke the story in December, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu corroborated the news when he tweeted a ...

Walmart acquires iOS development agency Small Society

by Mike Schramm (Jan 4th, 2012)

There have been quite a few strange acquisitions in the world of iOS development lately, but I think this one takes the cake: Walmart, of all places, has picked up an iOS development house named Small Society, in order to strengthen its customers' experience on Apple's mobile devices. Small ...

Nuance to acquire rival Vlingo

by Mike Schramm (Dec 21st, 2011)

Nuance, the company behind the Dragon apps and a whole slew of other popular software suites, has decided to acquire its rival Vlingo, another voice-to-text software developer. VentureBeat says it's for an undisclosed sum, but even though the two companies have sued and counter-sued over a ...

Calcalist: Apple to buy Israeli company Anobit

by Michael Rose (Dec 20th, 2011)

As noted here & here last week, the Israeli business daily Calcalist has been tracking the story of Apple's purported buyout of the flash/DSP technology company Anobit. Today the site reports that the deal is good to go, and that Anobit's employees are being told of the new ownership. To ...

Apple reportedly buying flash memory company

by Kelly Hodgkins (Dec 13th, 2011)

According to Calcalist, Apple may acquire Israeli company Anobit for US$400 to 500 million. Anobit is a fabless semiconductor company that produces flash storage solutions for the enterprise and mobile markets. The Calcalist report claims Apple already uses Anobit's technology in its iPhone, ...

Smule acquires Khush, two music-making app companies join forces

by Mike Schramm (Dec 2nd, 2011)

Here's an interesting acquisition that completely makes sense in hindsight. Smule, the company behind popular iOS apps like Magic Piano and the original Ocarina for iPhone app, has acquired Khush, an iOS developer that also makes musical apps, including LaDiDa and Songify. These two ...

Rovio reportedly turns down $2.25 billion from Zynga

by Mike Schramm (Nov 28th, 2011)

We're pretty late in the year, but this might be one of the craziest stories of 2011 -- according to sources, Angry Birds developer Rovio turned down a deal with social game company Zynga, to the tune of $2.25 billion. That's right, billion with a B, and they turned it down. I actually believe ...

An interview with Dag Kittlaus, the man who sold Siri to Apple

by Kelly Hodgkins (Nov 11th, 2011)

It only took one phone call to turn Siri's Dag Kittlaus's life around. Before the call, he was the head of a Silicon Valley startup and afterwards, he was a multimillionaire working with Apple. In an interview with Norwegian publication E24, Dag Kittlaus talks about his time working at Siri, the ...

Ubisoft acquires RedLynx, developer of Thousand Heroes and DrawRace 2 for iOS

by Mike Schramm (Nov 2nd, 2011)

Game developer Ubisoft, publishers of some of the biggest franchises on HD consoles, has picked up developer RedLynx, makers of XBLA's great Trials HD, as well as a few solid iOS titles, including Thousand Heroes and the excellent DrawRace 2. Ubisoft says it will use the purchase to both ...

Apple acquires 3D mapping company C3 Technologies

by Chris Rawson (Oct 29th, 2011)

Apple has extended its mapping services to a number of mapping companies over the past few years. The company has reportedly been working on building its own solution to maps and navigation on the iPhone, beginning with its acquisition of Placebase in 2009 and continuing with a "crowd-sourced ...

Original Siri service is dead, long live Apple Siri

by Mike Schramm (Oct 4th, 2011)

If you scoffed at the news that Apple's Siri would only be available on the iPhone 4S, thinking that you could just use the standard Siri app that was still available on the App Store, then scoff no more. The freely available Siri app has been removed from the App Store completely, and as ...

Apple looks to delay Motorola patent suits

by Kelly Hodgkins (Sep 15th, 2011)

Apple is asking the courts to delay two infringement cases with Motorola. The Cupertino company argues that Motorola has lost control over its patents because of the Google-Motorola deal. Apple's official statement says, To further its pending acquisition by Google, Motorola has ...

CNN acquires Zite, plans to operate as independent business

by Michael Grothaus (Aug 30th, 2011)

A week ago we reported on the rumors that CNN reportedly purchased iPad magazine app Zite, a magazine aggregater which collects news based on your personal preferences and presents it to you in a magazine-like format. Today, CNN confirmed those rumors. In a post on CNNTech, the company says ...

Digital Chocolate buys Sandlot Games

by Mike Schramm (Aug 17th, 2011)

Mobile game developer Digital Chocolate, one of the biggest developers on the App Store, has acquired Sandlot Games, makers of Cake Mania and a few other popular App Store titles. Sandlot has offices in Seattle and Eastern Europe, and Digital Chocolate says it plans to use the developer to ...