The 10 Apple Acquisitions of 2013

One of the big M&A stories of the week is Apple’s AAPL acquisition of Twitter analytics-startup, Topsy. That represents the tenth company Apple has purchased this year. Here’s a brief run down of each.

WiFiSLAM- March 23

The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple purchased WiFiSLAM for $20 million. The small startup developed technology that allowed mobile apps to pinpoint a person’s location based on a Wi-Fi signal. The most notable use is in retail stores where deals and other information are pushed to a person’s mobile device based on where they are in the store.

Locationary- July 19

Apple purchased this Canadian startup in July for an undisclosed amount likely to shore up some of the shortcomings in its mapping app.  Think of Locationary as the Wikipedia of mapping apps. It uses crowdsourcing as a way to provide real-time information while working with maps.

HotStop.com- July 19

Continuing its push to make its mapping app better, HotStop was purchased for an undisclosed amount. The small company helps users in 500 cities find the fastest way to a location by foot, bike, subway or car.

Passif Semiconductor- August 1

This acquisition didn’t make headlines but it was purchased for an undisclosed amount. The most likely reason for the acquisition was its Bluetooth 4.0 LE technology—useful in an iWatch if Apple is, indeed, developing one.

Matcha- August 13

Matcha.tv was an iOS app that gave users a comprehensive listing of everything available to watch on TV including cable providers, streaming network services like Netflix and Amazon Prime, and digital video stores. This could augment its Apple TV.

Related: Why Did Apple Just Buy Topsy Labs?

Embark- August 22

Another company that will bolster its mapping app, Embark was a startup that built free transit apps helping people navigate a city’s public transportation system. A purchase price was undisclosed.

AlgoTrim- August 28

Apple purchased Swedish startup, AlgoTrim in August, according to TechCrunch. The firm made technology that allowed data to be compressed and transmitted faster and more efficiently. Apple could use its technology to deliver movies and other media faster and at a higher quality.

Cue- October 3

With a price tag of $50 million Cue was purchased likely with the intent of enhancing how Apple devices catalog and deliver social data and other important information. Think of Cue like a personal assistant.

PrimeSense- November 24

With the largest price tag of the year, Israeli startup, PrimeSense was purchased for $360 million. PrimeSense was best known for the motion-sensing technology it developed that is now in the Microsoft Kinect product.

Topsy- December 2

Apple purchased Topsy for $200 million. The company is one of the few with complete access to Twitter’s complete database back to 2006. Apple will likely use this as a way to offer real-time suggestions on iTunes and allow Siri to provide more current information based on trending social data.

Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Tim Parker was long Apple.