• Apple is one of the largest companies in the world
• Company owns many subsidiaries
• Companies like Shazam, Beats Electronics and Claris belong to Apple
Apple is one of the most prestigious brands in the world and its products always attract the full attention of the media. In order to continue to grow through innovative products and services, acquisitions of other companies are a tried and tested means and Apple takes advantage of this: The successful company based in California can now also call numerous subsidiaries its own. We present some of the most interesting subsidiaries of the apple empire.
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Shazam
In December 2017 it was announced that Apple wanted to take over the music recognition software Shazam. In September 2018, Apple was able to complete the acquisition after it was reviewed and approved by regulators. Since Apple has already integrated a music identification system into Siri, it is currently unclear to what extent Apple will use the service for its own products. However, unlike Siri, Shazam is able to recognize advertisements, films and television shows in addition to music. It is therefore conceivable that Apple will add this feature in a new iOS update.
Beats Electronics
Beats Electronics has also been one of Apple’s subsidiaries since 2014 – and was the most expensive takeover to date. Apple is said to have paid more than three billion US dollars to win over the US audio technology manufacturer. This is a particularly lucrative subsidiary for Apple, as it includes Beats co-founders Jimmy Lovine and Dr. Dre also brought valuable know-how in the area of the music business to the group.
FileMaker – Claris
FileMaker Inc. is also one of the many subsidiaries that belong to Apple, but under the new name Claris. With the changed brand name, Claris also wants to emphasize that nothing is the same anymore and that the company no longer just works on databases. The Apple subsidiary wants to bring new products onto the market, particularly in the area of business intelligence. Apple and a specially founded subsidiary had already worked on productivity programs in the 1980s.
Anobit
The Israeli company Anobit has been part of Apple since 2011. The company owns numerous patents on innovative computer hardware. Anobit has specialized in the development of flash memory drives. Apple has been equipping its various iPhone models with this technology for years.
AuthenTec
Many of the innovations in current Apple products originate from another company. This also applies to the Touch ID fingerprint scanner, which was developed by the company AuthenTec. The company offers various security hardware and thus aroused Apple’s interest. The purchase took place in 2012: the tech giant paid a total of $356 million for the takeover. Apple has therefore also secured the further development of the technology behind Touch ID and various patents. The first successful collaboration appeared just a year after the takeover: the first iPhone with Touch ID came onto the market in autumn 2013.
Many more
Apple has announced numerous other acquisitions of various companies in recent years. Companies like NeXT, LinX and PrimeSense were purchased by Apple and contributed to various technological developments. If Apple stays true to its line, the list of acquisitions is likely to get longer every year and the new company subsidiaries are likely to produce many more technical advances.
Editorial team finanzen.ch