Google Is Eating Apple's Lunch

Google's $3.2 billion acquisition of Nest on Monday was a reminder of the company's penchant for taking bold risks, but also illustrates the opposite point about Apple, a company that has grown increasingly risk-averse.

Apple's biggest purchase last year was Topsy, a purveyor of Twitter-based analytics that cost the company $200 million. Google's largest acquisition of 2013 was Waze, the Israel-based producer of real-time traffic data, which cost 5X that amount. To obtain that prize, Google had to outbid other potential suitors including — reportedly — Apple

Since Nest was created by two former Apple execs and the company's products exhibit an elegant design aesthetic, Nest would appear to be a natural fit for Apple. However, Tony Fadell, Nest's founder and CEO, apparently doesn't get along with Apple design guru Jony Ive. More significantly, Apple's attitude about acquisitions has been to keep them small and unflashy. This reflects the belief of Steve Jobs, who, as the story goes, thought buying companies was a sign of defeat and an admission of failure. Read more...