What do Siri, Face ID and Maps have in common? Other than being part and parcel of Apple’s offering, these core components of the Apple ecosystem have directly benefited from acquisitions. The same is true of Apple silicon, Apple Music and even macOS. Now Pixelmator is set to join the fold, showing yet again that when Apple doesn’t have the expertise in–house, it will swoop on those who do possess the skills.
Apple has made hundreds of acquisitions over the years. You only need to look at Wikipedia to see a list of 130 companies, yet that only scratches the surface. Although there have been some big–name purchases such as Beats Music and Beats Electronics (acquired for a cool $3 billion), Apple has snapped up many smaller, far less well–known companies, most of which have not been identified. And without those acquisitions, Apple would be a very different beast today.
When Apple seeks to acquire a company, it focuses