“TechCrunch has heard from multiple sources that Square and Apple were recently in acquisition talks, but that Square walked away,” Alex Wilhelm reports for TechCrunch.
“Apple wanted the company to come aboard, according to one source, but the discussed price was a sticking point: The tipster held that Apple wanted to buy Square for less than half of the $6 billion valuation it eventually would raise at (around $3 billion),” Wilhelm reports. “Square, valued at the time at a firm 66 percent delta to that price point, declined to accept.”
“Apple also showed Square a software register, restaurant and spa booking services and a payment system for iPhones said the same source. This did not sit well with Square execs, who felt like the products would compete with their own offerings,” Wilhelm reports. “Apple recently announced Apple Pay, a way to execute in-person payments with your phone.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: According to Dalrymple: “Nope.”
Regardless, Apple Pay is certainly not a positive development for Square.
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A ‘tipster’ told me that Alex Wilhelm is pretty gullible.
If Apple supposedly “also showed Square a software register, restaurant and spa booking services and a payment system for iPhones,” what did they need Square for?
To add squares retail sites to the apple pay locations. To make the next square device have both apple pay and old school card swipe tech in one. There are a lot of square readers out there, apple could then offer to swap out the old card readers with the new dual readers, at little to no cost to the retailer. Now apple can make their own dual reader and compete with square… Apple will win with all the big banks behind them already.
If this is true, square may have slit their own wrists.
Thanks.
Square will probably eventually walk away finished with a fraction of what Apple offered. Too bad so sad.
Dalrymple said nope.
Actually, Square could benefit from Apple Pay. Square products accept financial transactions while Apple Pay is a way to make them. If Square quickly makes its reader compatible with the Apple Pay NFC transactions, it could be a quick way for millions of more small businesses to accept Apple Pay. I don’t think they are directly competitive.
Square moved to focus on small business a while ago but still see no profits in sight. My GUESS Apple did have high level talks with them (and many others). Square is running scared and needs to try and freeze the playing field. This “leak” is engineered PR based on a lil truth and whole bunch of bullshit. They claim Apple offered 3B to try and establish they are worth more by “rejecting”, pro athletes use this tactic often. They also leak details of Apple plans which correspond with their future focus as means to convince those they are working with that Square is ahead of Apple. If this “leak” were true Apple could sue for violation of NDA which both sides would have signed before any sharing. Square is toast and they know it…
I heard Square wanted the offer but failed to get ’round to it….
Apple were more impressed with Trapezoid, but eventually acquired Parallelogram for its more consistent bases.
Rhomboid was in the running, but lacked the requisite symmetries
So was the hyperbolic paraboloid but it caved.
Also of note, the Hoberman Sphere was considered to be a euphemism for Apple’s increasing market share but, sadly, was already in use as a soliloquy for the Federal Budget….
“I expand, therefore I am!”
(or is it “I am, therefore I expand”…?)
Nice try, but mixing up too many metaphorical targets leads to voter contusion and loss of the election – to the dude that wants to legislate the value of pi to be an even 3.0.
Voters don’t get subtlety. Never have. Never will.
Try angle. It’s simpler.
I disagree.
Voters get exactly what they want, although they may not realize this until The Overlord tells them that is what they wanted, at which point everyone is as happy as Denver after a good harvest…(well, everyone except the state tax collectors, who had no idea people would sell weed that had NOT been taxed. Dam those Free Will heathens!!!)
You’re confusing me all over again,,,good thing I never listen to anyone, and make snap decisions based on my mood
You sound like quite a woman!!!
I can only respect one that combines intuition with common sense….and maybe an occasional shot of Don Julio!
(they keep me in a state of constant contusion…;-)
Apple just said “Meh” and proceeded to design the Tesseract and went on their way, obsoleting Square.
Sounds like a false rumor Square would spread to: bring them to mind, equate them with Apple, equate them with ApplePay, and strengthen credibility by suggesting that Apple loved their service so much they wanted it. Plus it bolsters Square’s perceived value by suggesting that they’re far more valuable than $3B and wouldn’t settle for less than $8B.
Like I said, this is clearly a rumor Square has every reason to spread, though false.
Dalrymple gave it a “nope”, which basically means it did not happen. He doesn’t toss those around without knowing.
Dalrymple get the remote nod from a remote castle window, just as was the case in 1690
Nope.
http://www.loopinsight.com/2014/09/12/on-the-rumor-that-apple-was-in-talks-to-buy-square/
Steve Jobs made a mistake when he asked John Scully, an outsider, to join Apple. Learning from that mistake, S.J. asked an insider within the company to be the successor. Tim Cook has been working with the company for a long time, he knows what to do.
If this is true, Square will one day regret their decision.
But surely the whole point of acquiring them WOULD be to integrate with the work that Apple were/are producing, seems a strange reason to reject an acquisition, indeed more likely to encourage it if they think they would be trampled on. I mean what did they think would happen be owned by Apple but exist in their own independent bubble and not be competed against? Competition is surely now inevitable.