Apple is sitting on $40 billion in cash, which it will use not for revenues but to make “big, bold moves,” CEO Steve Jobs announced at the company’s annual shareholder meeting. He said the company will be aggressive in coming years and its big barrel of cash will provide an important buffer.
“When you take risks, it’s like jumping in the air. When they don’t work out, it’s nice to know the ground is always there,” Jobs said.
Jobs didn’t offer much direction on how the company will spend the money, except to announce that Apple will open 25 retail stores in China over the next two years.
So what else does Apple have in mind for that money, given that Jobs aims to shoot “big?” Greg Sterling, principal analyst with Sterling Market Research, expects more acquisitions, he said in a telephone interview. Apple’s recent acquisition of Quattro Wireless was a “surprise,” Sterling said. “Perhaps they’ll go further afield from their core business with other acquisitions,” he added.
Does Quattro Signal a New Direction?
The acquisition of Quattro, a mobile advertising company, for approximately $300 million was clearly out of Apple’s usual direction and served as a warning that Apple won’t cede search and advertising on the iPhone to Google forever.
The purchase led many observers to define the current tech landscape as Apple vs Google. “You can just see the tempers rising between the two companies,” Gene Munster, senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray, told The New York Times in January. “Two years ago it was a very friendly relationship. Now just every day it gets more competitive.”
Both companies are clearly converging on mobility with Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android operating system. Apple COO Tim Cook has been emphasizing that Apple should be considered a “mobile-device company,” even as it continues to support…