This article is from WeChat official account: Poor (ID: chaping321) , Author: peppers, title figure from: Vision China
Every September, the bad review office is destined to have a sleepless night for the Apple conference.
In this highly anticipated show, even if only a tablet and a watch are released in the end, the people who eat melons will have to smash it, smash it, and say a few words.
I have to say that although there are overwhelming various conferences, the technology fans are most looking forward to, the big brother Apple.
Then Apple, why has it been established in less than 50 years, can it have such a high degree of attention in the circle, and it is so powerful now?
The answer is actually: Keep stitching!
As of today, there are just over a hundred acquisition records listed on Wikipedia. It is estimated that there will be more acquisitions, which have not been exposed by the media, so they will not say much themselves.
Part of the acquisition record in the list
For example, accounts for a large amount of Apple’s incomeiTunes, the predecessor is actually a commercial MP3 software released in 1999: SoundJam MP. Just one year after it went online, Apple bought it.
The current A-series chips are the acquisition of PA Semi (a small fabless semiconductor company), and Intrinisty (chip design company), it has been continuously researched and developed by itself.
There is also the Siri function that was sued by the Xiaoi robot in Shanghai some time ago, and it was also directly bought by the local tyrant Guoge.
Before Siri is actually an independent application, more like a real secretary. Whether you want to book tickets, take a taxi, occupy a seat, or write a movie review, it can directly help you jump to the corresponding In the APP.
Moreover in 2010, it was more than the quiet Siri, because the creative team wanted to make it more personalized, so it sometimes swears, and even speaks swear words starting with F, more like a sentimental AI.
However, this newborn baby had just been online for two weeks before being spotted by Jobs.
He called the founder Adam by one call, and the other party thought it was a fraudulent call. After finally confirming that I was right, Adam was very moved, and then rejected Old Joe…
After all, they just got the B round of financing, and they are not short of money. In addition, they are a bit reluctant to just go online.
It was not until Qiao’s gang promised that he would develop Siri as the core application of Apple’s mobile phone before he finally agreed to be acquired.
At the Apple conference the following year, Siri was integrated into the iPhone 4S and became a highlight of the Apple mobile phone.
Apple is like an overbearing president. After spending a lot of money, other platforms don’t even want to touch Siri. The development of the BlackBerry and Android platforms were all cancelled, and the App Store was taken off the shelves.
It was also after the acquisition of Siri that he did not stop buying, buying and buying: In order to enhance Siri’s user privacy protection, he bought Perceptio; in order to enhance the realism of Siri’s human-computer dialogue, he bought Emotient; in order to strengthen Siri’s Technical ability, I bought Turi again…
In the past few years, Apple has become aAmong some technology giants, one of the most favorite AI startups is to acquire.
After 2010, the comparison of the number of AI startups acquired
Regarding their own acquisition behavior, the official said: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans ”(We buy small technology companies from time to time, and don’t want to share our acquisition plan with the outside world.)
However, I often walk by the river, and it is difficult not to wet my shoes. I shot the decisive and crisp apples, and sometimes the car overturned.
In 2009, Apple acquired Placebase, a map service company, to replace the technical services previously provided by Google. Three years later, iOS 6 made its debut with its own map.
However, Apple Maps can be described as full of loopholes: wrong location, taxi driver’s phone number, all kinds of strange bugs…
Some people even set up on TumblrA blog with a topic titled “The Amazing iOS 6 Maps” (Magic iOS 6 Maps) integrates a large number of strange results from Apple Map searches.
“Turn left, cross the sea, and you will reach your destination!”
Bridge: I stand up the edge
Although the current Apple map has made a lot of improvements, the black history that was ridiculed back then cannot be erased…
There was another rollover, which happened recently. In 2014, Apple spent $3 billion on Beats, intending to use it to attack the streaming music market.
However, the effect has not been seen so much, the lawsuit came first.
In August this year, a large number of users said that the Powerbeats series headphones they bought were far from reaching the battery life standard officially promoted by Apple. Some people found that the earphones were damaged by sweat after using it for a few weeks.
Apple can only lose money to ensure safety, and reached a settlement with the plaintiff for $9.75 million to avoid more losses.
But overall, the profit of the acquisition is still far greater than the loss. And if you look at the number of acquisitions alone, Apple’s “naughty value” may not be as good as other giants:
Google’s three main businesses besides search: YouTube, Android mobile platform, and display advertising all started through acquisitions.
Not to mention Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Snapchat, which was almost bought. Xiaozha basically buys whoever he can’t get rid of.
In recent years, large-scale mergers and acquisitions by technology companies have been rare, but each company seems to have seized the progress of small-scale transactions to fill the gaps in their own industrial ecology.
Sometimes it feels like the way they chop their hands is:
” Buy it first, you will use it later.”
” It seems that I won’t be able to use it in the future, but it’s okay, just don’t let competitors use it!”
It seems that the rich can really do whatever they want…
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