“Apple acquires an average of 15 to 20 companies a year, according to CEO Tim Cook. Of that number, we only hear about a couple, as most of these acquisitions or aqcui-hires are not consumer-facing, nor disclosed,” Jonathan S. Geller reports for BGR. “However, we have exclusively learned that Apple is planning an interesting partnership and a potential acquisition of AgileBits, maker of the popular password manager 1Password.”
“According to our source, after many months of planning, Apple plans to deploy 1Password internally to all 123,000 employees. This includes not just employees in Cupertino, but extends all the way to retail, too,” Geller reports. “Furthermore, the company is said to have carved out a deal that includes family plans, giving up to 5 family members of each employee a free license for 1Password.”
“While Apple is said to have a custom rate for this incredibly large deal with AgileBits, we haven’t been able to confirm what the company is paying. A standard family license goes for $60/year. If the company hypothetically secured a 50% discount, Apple would be paying around $2.5 million a year for the deal,” Geller reports. “AgileBits’ annual revenue is said to be around the $5 million to $10 million range, and our source told us the company would most likely sell for two to three times revenue. Could Apple just be kicking the tires before diving in? Possibly, but it would seem unlikely at this point. Either this deal is the actual acquisition, structured in a way that provides additional annual revenue for a set number of years, or there’s something else going on.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Well, now you know which third-party (for now) password manager to choose.
UPDATE: 11:35am PDT: AgileBits has dismissed any talk of an acquisition by Apple:
Rumours of my acquisition are completely false. My humans and I are happily independent and plan to remain so.
— 1Password (@1Password) July 10, 2018
I’ve been using it for years, it’s always felt more superior to any password manager Apple have used.
This employee offer screams that even Apple does not use their own password management built into Safari. I have been using 1password since it was introduced. Apple should have bought them years ago.
Built into the Mac, not just Safari. Yes, this move makes Apple’s Keychain look absolutely amateur, which it is of course.
Another great idea allowed to rot and die under Pipeline.
you would make an infinitely superior CEO to Tim Cook, what’s holding you back?
I have no idea if I’d make a better CEO than Pipeline.
I do know that I passionately love the Macintosh and have since 1986. I would have a team in place that showed how much I love that hardware and software and I would demand that my team keep these items up to date, place top priority on quality and insist that everything be right before it shipped. Further, I would listen to customers who bought the Mac and develop platforms that filled their needs.
Pipeline does none of this.
I hereby nominate Ishkabibble Von Tink for CEO of Apple!!
Funny how Tim Cook has avoided the incredibly obvious aspects of running a business like Apple. Must be bad at basic easy multi-tasking.
I hereby name Ishakdorkle von Dingler, Artiste, yet another waste of space and future toilet flusher in a Chinese public toilet.
Have used iCloud Keychain for years now and do not understand why apple would need another. Never have any problems. What am I missing ?
1Password does so much more than a password autofill tool. You can securely keep anything in it. I keep SSNs for family members, security questions and answers, scans of important documents, drivers licenses, passports, serial numbers and purchase records for warranted devices, and more.
Additionally, it let’s me share select info with select members of my household, via shared vaults.
The one thing I’m looking at is the $60/year fee. That puts me out of market – and I believe that many people will be in that position.
The best hope for me and others who do not want a subscription deal is that Apple buys the company and inserts it into both the Mac and mobile devices. That simply moves the strength of the Apple devices ahead. The $10 Million income is probably not that important to Apple in comparison to the improvements the purchase could make.
If $60/year for a product that provides password security for your entire family “puts you out of the market”, you need to get your financial house in order or stop being a cheapskate.
1Password is cross platform..,,
Was. When Cook ruins it, enjoy another monthly fee with zero product improvements over time.
For the love of God let’s hope Apple doesn’t buy One Password they will only ruin it
Yeah but Tim Cook’ll look good briefly at the 2019 WWDC introducing it as it then does a slow fade soon thereafter. Splashes turn into small mud puddles quickly at Apple.
Too expensive. And they HAVE your data, whether or not they claim not to be able to decrypt it or not, you are taking a chance. A better solution is an offline 256 bit encrypted vault. F paying for that. Suckers.
Trondude, 1password used to be you held onto your own file with passwords, with this subscription model they want to be the holder.
Hidden deep down you can still hold your own data.
This would be awesome. 1Password has been going to the stupid subscription model.
Apple’s Password manager sucks big time.
Apple integrating 1 password would be a leap forward .