If it seemed Apple was encroaching Google’s business with its iAd platform, then the acquisition of mobile search company Siri is a transgression of note!
$200 million blown in the wind
Though this iPhone app company’s flagship product has only been downloaded around 250,000 times, various technology publications are putting the acquisition price at north of $200 million. With investors having put $24 million into the organization, the acquisition represents an 800 per cent return, which is quite healthy for the investors.
But it seems Apple has significantly overbid for this company. The theory for this price tag is two-fold: some believe Apple feared Google would swoop in and snatch Siri the same way Google snatched Admob, while other argue if you look at the purchase as a talent and technology acquisition as opposed to an iPhone app acquisition, $200 million is well worth it for entry in the mobile search market.
Smartphones, advertising, search
This Siri acquisition marks the third major market the former BFFs Apple and Google will be competing with each other in, namely smartphones, advertising and search.
Where Google Android is a competitor to iPhone OS, and Apple’s iAd is an arrow at Google’s AdWords and AdSense, this acquisition of a company whose product is a kind of virtual assistant is a slight play on the typical mobile archetype. In this regard, Google has other platforms like Aardvark to compete with this Apple move, but if anything, this move is definitely a sign that Apple no longer treats Google territory as precious ground that should not be tread on.
What is likely, as the recent HP acquisition of Palm shows, is that the company that wins big in the three industries Apple and Google are competing in will likely be among the largest in the world, making the obscene profits mobile advertising, search and mobile technology leaders tend to. Mobile search company Siri is merely a piece in a very interesting puzzle.
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