Tim Cook says Apple has already acquired nine companies in 2013
During his appearance at All Things D last night, Tim Cook mentioned that Apple in 2013 is acquiring companies at a faster clip than in years past. In previous years, Cook noted, Apple acquired an average of six companies per year. Not even six months into 2013, Cook explained Apple has already acquired nine companies.
Of course, Cook stressed that Apple isn't going to announce all of its acquisitions, but rather just the ones it has to. This certainly makes sense given Apple's penchant for surgical acquisitions. For a company as secretive as Apple, having each and every acquisition made public would undoubtedly shed light on Apple's future software ambitions, and perhaps, product roadmap.
While on the topic of acquisitions, Cook reiterated a point he's made in the past; namely that he isn't opposed to the idea of a large-scale acquisition, but would only feel comfortable pulling the trigger if the targeted company would help further Apple's product goals.
We're always looking; I think we'll do more of these in the future. We aren't currently looking at a big one, but we aren't opposed to doing that if it made sense. We ask: "Would it help us make a great product, and would the culture fit at Apple?"
As a point of interest, you might recall that Apple in late 2009 did attempt to buy out Dropbox.
On the flip side, Cook confirmed that Apple did not make a bid to acquire the popular navigation app Waze.
As for Apple's nine acquisitions thus far in 2013, the only one that has been made public was its reported $20 million deal to acquire the "indoor GPS" company WiFiSLAM back in March.
