Insights

Smartphone Era

In the early days of the “Dot-Com” era, companies like Microsoft and Apple spent their resources on acquiring software companies that had already been in business for a 3-4 years.Post-2005, in the “Smartphone Era”, Microsoft and Apple were joined by other Tech Giants such as Facebook, Google and Amazon. This time period saw acquisitions in Vision and Machine Learning grow substantially. Apple acquired facial recognition software firm Polar Rose while Google acquired Key-Hole and Zip Dash to enhance their Google Maps offering.Since 2011, the “Cognitive Era” saw these Tech Giants become increasingly ambitious when it comes to making strategic acquisitions. The Tech Giants acquired a number of early stage AI start-ups. For example, Apple acquired the team at Init.ai, while Google acquired 2-year old AI startup, Deep Mind.