Apple's Anobit Acquisition Confirmed by Israeli Prime Minister
Apple has spent a reported half a billion dollars to acquire Anobit, a flash storage company in Israel.
Last week, we heard reports that Apple was thinking of buying itself a nice little flash storage company for Christmas. This week, the news of Apple's acquisition of Anobit, an Israeli fabless semiconductor company that specializes in streamlining flash memory, was reported by Calcalist financial daily and then seemingly confirmed by the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel.
Engadget reports that the news first appeared in the Calcalist, which valued the deal at $500 million, a figure that matches last week's rumors. The news report was then confirmed via a tweet from the Twitter account for the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel.
"Welcome to Israel, Apple Inc. on your 1st acquisition here. I'm certain that you'll benefit from the fruit of the Israeli knowledge," the tweet from Dr. Eitan Eliram, who manages the account, reads.
Neither Apple nor Anobit has commented on the deal, which is not unusual, as Cupertino often doesn't comment publicly on its acquisitions. Anobit represents one of only a handful of hardware companies acquired by Apple. This includes NeXT, which was founded by Steve Jobs after he was ousted from Apple, and PA Semi, a fabless semiconductor company that was acquired by Apple in April of 2008 for $278 million in cash.
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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thehelix Is it just me who thinks that it is sad for a prime minister to make that statement...Reply -
extremepcs So what will Apple do when the Palestinians blow up the factory? Send in the Apple Police?Reply -
amk-aka-Phantom TheHelixIs it just me who thinks that it is sad for a prime minister to make that statement...Reply
Nope, not just you. At least he isn't as bad as the Russian president, who openly advertises Apple gadgets on G8 (or WTF is it nowadays) meetings and so on :lol: -
igot1forya extremepcsSo what will Apple do when the Palestinians blow up the factory? Send in the Apple Police?The Apple Police are a ruthless bunch! There will be casualties...Reply -
Zhenne TheHelixIs it just me who thinks that it is sad for a prime minister to make that statement...Reply
Why is it sad? Apple is a big and influential company and why wouldn't Israel's prime minister want to advertise that Apple decided to invest in his country?
Plus, it was just polite and good manners to welcome Apple into your country. -
del35 "So what will Apple do when the Palestinians blow up the factory?"Reply
They will patent the damages so that anyone who gets attacked by
angry Palestinians has to pay royalty. -
jacobdrj I am surprised it took Apple that long to tap into Israel's resources.Reply
It took Intel a while to do it too, but once they did, it opened the door for the Core series that ultimately lead to Core 2 and the i series that are so successful now... -
ericburnby Huge acquisition for Apple. Anobit has developed a lot of cutting edge technology to improve flash memory.Reply
This story probably won't get many comments since it's not hate fodder (like an Apple lawsuit), but this is far bigger news than any of those disputes. -
blackened144 __-_-_-__Does the PM advertises other companies too?Their were press releases when Intel began working in Israel.. But that was a long time ago.. Way before Twitter..Reply