Apple Buys Mobile Startup Mobeewave For $100M To Enable Contactless Payments: Report

Apple Inc. AAPL has purchased contactless mobile payment startup Mobeewave Inc. for $100 milllion, according to a Bloomberg report late Friday.

What Happened

The Tim Cook-led company is reportedly retaining Mobeewave’s team, which will continue to operate out of its home base in Montreal, Canada.

“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” a spokesperson for the Cupertino-based company said in a statement — a message it typically reiterates when it intends to confirm an acquistion.

The smartphone maker already has an Apple Pay service on its iPhones since 2014 and could potentially use Mobeewave’s technology to enable those devices to accept payments without involving additional hardware, Bloomberg noted.

The Montreal-based startup’s technology enables smartphones and credit cards to make payments using a second smartphone with near field communications (NFC) without any extra hardware.

Why It Matters 

Jack Dorsey-led Square Inc SQ competes in the mobile payments space but its payment system uses hardware.

Last year, Mobeewave allowed Samsung Electronics Co Ltd’s SSNLF phones to use the technology. The Korean technology titan is also an investor in the payments company, which has raised $20 million so far, Pitchbook data revealed. 

Apple acquired the hyperlocal weather app Dark Sky in March and the virtual reality startup NextVR in May.

Last week, Cook along with CEOs of Facebook Inc FB, Amazon.com, Inc AMZN and Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG appeared before the House Antitrust Subcommittee. The questions in that hearing broached on the matter of antitrust concerns related to the technology giant's acquisitions.

Price Action 

Apple shares traded 0.56% higher at $427.40 in pre-market session Monday.

Photo by Marco Verch on Flickr.