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However, what Apple did with Beats’ software, didn’t do with Beats’ hardware. The core headphone brand is producing headphones to this day, including the Beats Studio 3 (with Beats Studio coming out probably in Fall 2023), and the Powerbeats Wireless headphones, which incorporate the technology of AirPods. 3. Siri Acquired on: April 27, 2010/ $1 billion Acquisition cost: $150.0 – $250.0 million (undisclosed) If you are an iPhone user, you need no introduction to Siri.
The personal assistant with an exceptional voice recognition technology was originally developed by SRI International Email List Artificial Intelligence Center. Being a defense research project, it was funded by, well, US taxpayers – for $150m in total. Source But how can the cost of a single mobile app be as much as 1 billion dollars? An article from 2010 published by xconomy, The Story of Siri, from birth at SRI to Acquisition by Apple explains:

“The Siri app itself isn’t expensive; in fact, it’s free to iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch users.of years of defense-sponsored research.“It’s about the artificial-intelligence insights behind it: the chain of machine-learning, natural-language processing, and Web search algorithms that swing into action with every Siri query. When you can access these algorithms from a mobile device like the iPhone, and prime them with a bit of contextual awareness such as a GPS location reading or an understanding of the user’s preferences,
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