Apple Buys Mobeewave for $100M

Apple reportedly acquired Mobeewave, a platform enabling apps to take payments from bank cards or mobile wallets. The acqusition is opening the possibility for iPhones to become standalone payment terminals.

Apple paid around $100 million for the Canada-based company, which developed NFC-based payment systems. Dozens of staff were apparently kept on. While the company already offers Apple Pay,  Mobeewave’s contactless payment technology could enable it to turn its hardware into payment terminals.

However it is unclear where this leaves smartphone and mobile wallet rival Samsung, since its venture capital arm invested $20 million into Mobeewave in early 2019, and the companies subsequently launched a point of sale app. The new acquisition deal adds up to a significant line-up of Apple takeovers, including recent moves to buy weather forecasting app Dark Sky and AI start-up Voysis.