Acquisitions and Apple are two words that almost never come out in a public sentence together. Apple keeps most of its acquisitions secret, which only get leaked through official filings. One such acquisition has been uncovered by Bloomberg. Apple has reportedly acquired Mobeewave Inc., a startup with technology that could transform iPhones into mobile payment terminals.
While Apple obviously hasn’t said a thing about this acquisition, Bloomberg’s sources suggest the Cupertino giant paid nearly $100Mn for the acquisition. The amount is a large, considering Apple generally does not shell out such cheques for acquisition, unless the technology being acquired is highly strategic in nature. Which, it is.
Mobeewave technology lets shoppers tap their credit card or smartphone on another phone to process a payment. The system works with an app and doesn’t require hardware beyond a Near Field Communications, or NFC, chip, which iPhones have included since 2014.
From what it looks like, Apple could use Mobeewave’s tech to turn iPhones in to payment terminals. The Cupertino giant has been pushing in big time into digital payments with Apple Pay as well as Apple Card. The next likely progression seems the B2B space, where advanced payment terminals powered by iPhone’s hardware could be gamechanging.
In a statement, Apple gave out its usual line, “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans”.
Mobeewave has raised over $20Million so far, with Samsung being one of its investors. Samsung also partnered with the startup to let its own flagship phones use this tech.
The deal would be one of several for Apple this year. It recently acquired weather app Dark Sky and virtual-reality content broadcasting company NextVR.
