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Apple Looking at More Corporate Acquisitions, Prepping Move Into Television?

Tuesday June 29, 2010 8:55 am PDT by Eric Slivka

Silicon Alley Insider's Dan Frommer reports that after a spate of corporate acquisitions late last year and earlier this year bringing such firms as Quattro Wireless, Lala Media, Intrinsity, and Siri on board, Apple may not yet be done shopping around for companies to acquire. In fact, Apple may be looking at somewhat larger deals than those undertaken in recent months, expanding deal values out to as much as $1 billion.

Apple's shopping spree isn't over, and the company is looking at all kinds of deals, even up to $1 billion. This is being led by Apple's newish deals guy, former Goldman banker Adrian Perica.

The report appears to be based primarily on gossip coming out of CEO dinner moderated by Frommer last night, and addresses a number of topics beyond Apple that are currently the scuttlebutt of industry insiders. And with Apple's iPad and iPhone 4 out the door, the time seems ripe for the company to increase its focus on some other areas.

Another tidbit of information coming out of the dinner is discussion of Apple's next major move being into television. While Apple has clearly been playing a minor role in television with the Apple TV and its iTunes Store video offerings and there have been rumblings that it is looking to get a television deal done, it seems that Apple may finally be ramping things up. In particular, Apple's renaming of "iPhone OS" to "iOS" is seen as setting the stage for the platform to move away from mobile and into other devices, as has been rumored for Apple TV.

Apple's next big move is going to be TV. Besides the leaks of a supposed new Apple TV device, the company also renamed its iPhone OS "iOS," foreshadowing a future beyond mobile devices. The company's move into advertising -- mobile, so far, but no reason it can't extend into TV somehow -- is another hint.

Possibly lending credence to claims of a significant push into television, a Bloomberg report today also notes that Jobs is set to attend the annual Allen & Co. media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho for the first time since 2005. The conference draws many of media's top executives and is a common venue for networking and dealmaking.

Update: Ken Li of the Financial Times tweets that although Jobs is on the invitation list, he is apparently not attending the Allen & Co. media conference.

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