Apple Has Acquired 24 Companies in Last 18 Months

During today's second quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that Apple has purchased a total of 24 companies during the course of the last 18 months, some that are known and some that remain unknown.



Just over half of Apple’s acquisitions have come to light, which means the company has purchased many additional companies that have not yet been discovered. In 2014, Apple’s known purchases included SnappyLabs, a company that produced a burst photo app, and Burstly, the company behind the Testflight iOS beta testing platform.



2013 saw the purchase of several different mapping apps, including BroadMap, Embark, HopStop, Locationary, and WiFiSlam, along with other notable additions like 3D company PrimeSense and Novauris, a speech recognition company. Back in October, Tim Cook noted Apple had completed 15 strategic acquisitions in 2013, pointing towards a number of new acquisitions in 2014.



The technology from both Apple’s known acquisitions and their unknown purchases will likely make their way into products that we may see in the future. For example, all of the mapping acquisitions are expected to be put to use in iOS 8, which will see the addition of transit directions and possibly improved indoor mapping techniques.



During the call, Apple noted that investing in research and development along with hardware, software, and services were top priorities for the company.

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