Need a couple staff members for a new feature? No probs, just buy a company.
Background: We know that you know what Apple is Flux fam. But it pays to take a quick trip down memory lane. Apple is worth a massive US$2 trillion, and it's responsible for pretty much every major tech development since the 2000s.
What happened: Remember iTunes? Yeah, me neither. Apple exchanged U2s entire album for a new subscription service called Apple Music, which now has over 660 million subscribers (compared to Spotify's 158 million paid subscribers).
What else: And now it can add a classical music streaming service, Primephonic, to its toolkit. Apple quietly bought Primephonic with plans to turn into its own classic music-focused app next year. It's just another company they've bought on the DL as part of its 'aqcui-hire' strategy.
An acqui-hire is a strategic purchase of a small company. Not for the brand...not for the product...but for the staff. And Apple loves to do this.
In the last six years, Apple's bought 100 companies, which works out to around one company every three to four weeks across a heap of industries, like augmented and virtual reality, AI, maps, health and even semiconductors.
Companies use acqui-hires to help them speed up expansion - particularly in areas where the company doesn't have the technical talent. Like when Apple acquired AuthenTec in 2012 - which eventually led to the iPhone's fingerprint scanner. Long live the acquihire.
Sign up for Flux and join 100,000 members of the Flux family
