It seemed last week like Apple was eyeing up flash memory technology company Anobit for a potential purchase, and now word from Israeli news outlet Calcalist is that the multi-million dollar deal has been finalized.
While Anobit has already broken the news to their employees, many of the deal’s salient details are still unknown to outsiders. There’s still no word on exactly how much Apple paid in the acquisition aside from the vague “400 to 500 million” price tag mentioned last week, and 9to5mac’s sources mention that Anobit’s executive team haven’t yet been formally introduced to Apple employees.
As my colleague Robin pointed out when news of the deal first broke, Anobit’s flash memory solutions center around the company’s memory signal processing technology, which are designed to “improve the speed, endurance and performance of flash storage systems while driving down the cost.” Considering that a sizable portion of Apple’s product lines rely on solid-state flash memory, it’s a smart move from the folks at Cupertino.
Anobit’s memory solutions already appear in a handful of Apple’s product lines, with the iPhone, iPad, and MacBook Air being prime among them. With consumers expecting more and more from their iDevices every year, the onus is on Apple to keep up with never-ending expectations for increased memory and reliability. If the reports pan out (and I imagine we’ll get official confirmation one way or the other before long), bringing Anobit in-house means they’re taking the issue pretty seriously, especially with rumors of an all-SSD line of Macs making the rounds.
Though neither Apple nor Anobit have officially commented on the purchase, word of the deal has already worked its way to the top of the Israeli government: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (or at least his social media rep) welcomed Apple to Israel from his official Twitter account.
https://twitter.com/#!/israelipm/status/149080537015922688
A thoughtful gesture, sure, but it’s still unknown whether or not the prime minister actually knows that the deal is solid, or if he’s working off the same reports as everyone else is.
