“For only the second time in recent memory, Apple has used its pile of cash to buy a hardware company and threaten survival of another tech industry,” Ed Sutherland reports for Cult of Mac.
“Reports say Apple is ready to spend up to $500 million to acquire Anobit, an Israel-based flash memory maker already used in the iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air,” Sutherland reports. “It probably didn’t hurt that the purchase could free Apple’s reliance on its courtroom buddy Samsung.”
Sutherland reports, “The flash memory deal would be the first under CEO Tim Cook’s leadership and only the second time the company acquired a hardware firm. In 2008, Apple paid $278 million for P.A. Semi which later produced custom ARM-based chips for the iPhone and iPad. Today’s deal could also help Apple walk away from a 2005 agreement with Samsung to ensure flash memory for the iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Perhaps slavish copying does go punished after all?
Apple’s Anobit buy, if true, seems to be more about preserving and furthering competitive advantages than about hurting another company in particular, but if it happens to hurt Samsung, anyone who values innovation and despises knockoff peddlers won’t shed a tear.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Analysts see competitive advantages for Apple in Anobit buy – December 13, 2011
Apple reportedly buying Israeli flash memory company Anobit for upwards of $500 million – December 13, 2011