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Apple reaches into the App Store to make its next acquisition

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By Alan Friedman

Updated: Nov 01, 2024, 5:48 PM

The homescreen of an iPhone is displayed with the focus on the App Store app icon.

For a huge company with plenty of cash, Apple is pretty conservative when it comes to acquisitions. Traditionally, Apple eschews large splashy acquisitions in lieu of buying smaller one-product companies with a product that can be integrated into the iPhone by the next year. A great example is the company's purchase of biometric security firm AuthenTec in 2012 for $356 million. A year later, with AuthenTec's help, the Touch ID fingerprint sensor debuted on the iPhone 5s.

Another typical Apple purchase was the 2010 acquisition of Siri Inc. for about $200 million. A year later, the iPhone 4s was launched and was the first iPhone to include the Siri digital assistant. The largest acquisition made by Apple took place in 2014 when the tech giant spent $3 billion to buy Beats Audio. Apple wanted to buy Beats Audio for its under-performing streaming music platform with only 111,000 subscribers, and turn it into Apple Music which it did.

Apple is buying popular image editor Pixelmator for an undisclosed price. | Image credit-Pixelmator

Today, a blog post by Pixelmator, a popular full-featured layered image editing app for iOS and Mac said, "Pixelmator has signed an agreement to be acquired by Apple, subject to regulatory approval. There will be no material changes to the Pixelmator Pro, Pixelmator for iOS, and Photomator apps at this time. Stay tuned for exciting updates to come." It isn't known how much Apple is paying for the company which has a 4.6 rating by users of the app.

The company is headquartered in Lithuania and closed its blog post today by thanking customers. "We want to give a big thanks to our amazing users for your support over the past 17 years. Your feedback has played a huge role in shaping our apps into what they are today. As we step into this exciting new chapter, we can’t wait to share what’s next."

Pixelmator, the 47th most popular app in the Photos and Video category, costs iPhone users $9.99 from the App Store. The Pro version of the app is $49.99 and includes features such as a new AI-based capability that will remove the background of an image.

It will be interesting to see what Apple has in mind for the app and whether some features will be integrated into image processing for all iOS users.

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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.

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