The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Nuance Communications has been in talks with Samsung and private-equity firms about a possible sale of the company. The report, which cites sources with knowledge on the matter, claims it is unclear where sales talks currently stand, or whether these talks will actually materialize into a sale…
My headline isn't an exaggeration. The Internet giant last week announced buying satellite imaging company Skybox Imaging for $500 million, which is peanuts, really, when you consider what Skybox does for a living. The company has satellites that circle the orbit of the Earth and take very detailed photographs of the terrain.
On the surface, the acquisition should help keep Google Maps accurate with up-to-date imagery. Google on its part has said the Skybox buy will also help them improve Internet access and disaster relief. So, what does any of this have to do with the iPhone?
Read on...
CloudKit, one of the few platform-enhancing features Apple rolled out at WWDC, had to be created entirely from scratch because the Cupertino firm has failed at buying Parse, a startup that provides much of CloudKit-like functionality.
CloudKit frees up programmers from needing to devote their resources toward building server-side application logic themselves. It does so by providing a common set of APIs for server-based authentication, private and public database, structured and asset storage services and much more.
According to a scoop by The Information, a technology website by former WSJ writer Jessica Lessin, the iPhone maker considered purchasing Parse before Facebook...
Priceline has announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire online restaurant reservation service and Apple content partner OpenTable. The travel site will be doling out $103 per share in the all cash transaction, which is said to be worth $2.6 billion.
For those unfamiliar with it, OpenTable facilitates restaurant reservations through its website and mobile apps. Apple has long been a proponent of the service, which it reaffirmed in 2012 by integrating it into its digital assistant Siri, as part of the year's iOS 6 update...
As expected, touchscreen chipmaker has announced that it will be buying Renesas SP Drivers, the sole supplier of display chips for the iPhone. The deal is said to be worth $475 million—around the same price Apple was rumored to bid for the company earlier this year.
For those unfamiliar with Renesas, it's a joint venture between Powerchip and Sharp that specializes in building LCD drivers for small and mid-sized LCD panels. These chips determine a display's quality, and typically account for around 10% of a device's battery usage...
Apple has quietly acquired location-based recommendation service 'Spotsetter,' according to TechCrunch. The site doesn't offer any specifics on the deal, but does note that it's hearing that investors in the company are "happy, so to speak."
The buyout is said to be mainly about acquiring Spotsetter's technology, and the talent of the two founders—one of which is an ex-Google Maps engineer. LinkedIn profiles show that the pair, and much of their team, are now working at Apple...
According to two Apple sources familiar with the development of iTunes Radio, current limitations of the free service and the $3 billion acquisition of Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre's Beats talent, brand, headphone business and streaming service is all the result of the firm's "arrogance" and shortsightedness of its managers.
Worse, some high-ranked members of Apple's music teams reportedly didn’t even know that Spotify was an on-demand streaming service and not an Internet radio service akin to Pandora and iTunes Radio...
Bloomberg is reporting this afternoon that Sprint and T-Mobile are getting very close to reaching a deal for acquisition. The outlet says that the purchase, if agreed upon, will be made in about 50% stock and 50% cash, but there's no word yet on price.
Sprint has been rumored to be interested in T-Mobile for months now. The carrier, which was recently taken over by Japan's SoftBank, has been impressed with the 'uncarrier' movement, and a buyout will make it more of a threat to AT&T and Verizon...
If you haven't been following the latest news, it is a prerequisite to know that Apple has acquired Beats for $3 billion before reading further. The announcement has created a lot of confusion in regards to what the acquisition means for Beats and existing partnerships with the brand. Just to be clear, Beats collectively refers to both Beats Electronics, which markets high-end headphones, speakers and audio software, and the streaming music service Beats Music.
Prior to being acquired, Beats had several partnerships with other brands, including companies that are direct competitors with Apple. Most notable is Hewlett-Packard, which uses Beats Audio branding and technologies in its product lineup. AT&T has an exclusive deal with Beats Music to sell subscriptions and an unlimited music downloading family plan, and design firm Ammunition has a partnership to create Beats products. Even HTC has been in the mix.
Read ahead to find out how the Apple-Beats deal affects all of these deals…
According to a breakdown of Apple's $3 billion Beats buy published Thursday by The Wall Street Journal, the company basically paid less than $500 million for the Beats Music subscription service and about $2.5 billion for Beats Electronics LCC, which makes the popular Beats headphones, speakers and audio software (which some dismiss as a software equalizer that boosts the bass).
The report alleges that the acquisition - the most expensive in Apple's history - gives the Cupertino firm Beats' brand power and star leadership. The story downplays the importance of the generic Beats Music streaming service to the overall deal...
After weeks of speculation, Apple confirmed just moments ago that it has reached a deal to acquire Beats Electronics and Beats Music for $3 billion. Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre will be joining Apple, the company announced. Beats is best known for its popular lineup of headphones, speakers and audio software, and in January launched a new streaming music service called Beats Music in partnership with AT&T.
This marks the largest acquisition that Apple has ever made, divided into a purchase price of $2.6 billion and approximately $400 million that will vest over time. But it comes at a pivotal time for Apple, as iTunes music sales decline in light of the rising popularity of streaming music services. Apple will now operate its own streaming music service in Beats Music, going head on against competitors like Spotify and Pandora…
In addition to giving comments for the press release and writing a memo to employees, Tim Cook apparently invited a handful of high profile journalists to Apple's Cupertino headquarters today to talk about the just-announced Beats acquisition.
Cook spoke with reporters from the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Financial Times and other publications this afternoon on the Beats buyout. And we've rounded up some of the more interesting tidbits from each interview, below...