"Anobit has some fantastic technical talent, and we’re really fortunate to have them join us," said Apple CEO Tim Cook in his first reference to the Israeli start-up, which Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) acquired for $390 million earlier this month. He clearly indicated that Anobit will be integrated into Apple, rather than operate as an independent division.
"We don’t believe in lots of divisions like a lot of companies do, and so we run the company as one, instead of a lot of mini-companies. The semiconductor team works for Bob Mansfield as does all of the hardware engineering for the whole company, and so Bob and his team are integrating Anobit into that team," said Cook.
Anobit develops flash memory storage solutions for smartphones and enterprise networks. Apple bought $17.5 billion worth of processors in 2011, the biggest buyer in the industry. The company reportedly wants to use Anobit's solutions for its iPads, iPhones, and laptops. Apple will be able to use Anobit's patents in its war against Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (KSX: 5390), and an investor in and partner of Anobit.
Although Anobit was Apple's first acquisition in Israel, it is only part of Apple's plans for the local market. Apple is moving forward on its Israeli R&D center, and its designated chief, Aharon Aharon, recently returned from a training course at Apple and reportedly gave it thousands of resumes of Israeli engineers seeks jobs.
The kind of engineers interested in working for Apple Israel were employed by Zoran, where Aharon was COO and manager of its Israeli R&D center. Many of Zoran's Israeli employees were fired following its acquisition by Britain's CSR plc (LSE: CSR; Nasdaq: CSRE), and Apple could be an attractive new workplace.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 25, 2012
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