Acquiring minds want to know: A peek inside Apple's most recent corporate acquisitions

If you've heard it once, you've heard it dozens of times: "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans." When it comes to its corporate acquisitions, Cupertino likes to play its cards very close to its chest. Of course, that doesn't stop industry watchers from peering at the tea leaves to see if they can divine exactly what the company might be working on. And, hey, I'm no different than those folks, because Apple does so little to telegraph its plans that even a boilerplate statement confirming an acquisition is a rare peek behind the curtain. Apple CEO Tim Cook said not long ago that the company makes an acquisition every two to three weeks, and not even all of those make it into the public eye.