July 28, 2012: Apple buys biometrics company AuthenTec, acquiring the technology that will power future authentication and secure payments initiatives.
With a price tag of $356 million, the deal gives Apple the right to use AuthenTec hardware, software and patents. In the short term, Apple engineers start working to build Touch ID sensors into the iPhone 5s. Longer-term, AuthenTec’s mobile wallet tech paves the way for Apple Pay.
Apple purchased Xnor.ai, a company that creates artificial intelligence software for mobile devices. The acquisition will apparently lead to AI applications running directly on iPhones, iPads, etc., not outsourced to the cloud. This should make these tasks more private and quicker.
Apple has reportedly snapped up Tueo Health, a startup which was developing tools to help parents monitor their sleeping kids’ asthma symptoms. Tueo Health’s work involved a smartphone app that analyzes data from commercial breathing sensors.
It’s not clear exactly when the deal went down, but it appears to have stealthily happened late last year. Apple hasn’t revealed how much it paid.
Apple recently acquired a startup that could soon help the iPhone-maker deliver better backend tools to iOS and macOS developers.
Stamplay, an Italian startup that specialized in building a “low code workflow automation” platform, was reportedly purchased by Apple for about $5.6 million. The acquisition hasn’t been confirmed by Apple but there are some telltale signs that Stamplay’s tech has found a new home.
Lighthouse, a smart security camera maker that specialized in AI recognition, officially died at the end of 2018 but its tech is about to get a second chance thanks to Apple.
Apple recently acquired a big batch of patents from the failed startup. Lighthouse launched its security camera a year ago making it easier for users to sort through footage thanks to 3D depth sensing and AI features connected to an iOS app. Now it looks like Apple might incorporate some of those patents into Face ID.
Apple has reportedly acquired U.K.-based music creative services and artist development company Platoon.
The company has history with Apple, being co-founded by former Apple live events and artist relations exec Denzyl Feigelson. Described as “a platform for fearless creatives,” Platoon has helped develop a number of early stage artists in the U.S. and UK since launching in 2016.
Apple has reportedly acquired an artificial intelligence startup that specializes in on-device machine learning software.
Silk Labs’ technology processes data without sending it to the cloud, which is a perfect fit for Apple’s privacy-conscious approach to AI. It’s not clear how much Cupertino paid for the company when the deal was struck earlier this year.
Apple has acquired the rights to two feature-length films as part of its original content efforts. The first is a feature documentary, titled The Elephant Queen of Athena, while the second is an animated film called Wolfwakers.
The Elephant Queen of Athena was opened up to buyers earlier this year at the European Film Market in Berlin, Germany. Following the story of an elephant matriarch who leads her family on journey across Africa in search of food and water, it’s been likened to 2005’s highly successful March of the Penguins.
Apple may have just made a key acquisition that could help the company create a truly revolutionary augmented reality headset. According to a new report, German eye-tracking company SensoMotoric Instruments has been purchased by an Apple shell company, giving the iPhone-maker access the company’s trove of patents related to eye-tracking glasses and other systems.
Apple has acquired acquired a sleep-tracking app called Beddit, suggesting that tracking users’ hours of shut-eye could be incorporated into a future Apple Watch or iPhone.
Financial terms of the acquisition haven’t been disclosed, although the buyout is confirmed by Beddit in the small print on its webpage.
