Apple deals behind recent features in iProducts

Apple Inc agreed to buy fingerprint sensor developer AuthenTec Inc for about USD 356 million in a deal that could help the iPhone maker offer secure transactions in the emerging mobile payments market.

Apple, which had a cash balance of USD 117.2 billion as of June 30, has made a handful of technology acquisitions over the last few years to add unique features that end up defining its popular products.

February 2012 - Buys privately held based Chomp Inc, which provides software that helps sort the thousands of apps sold on Apple's App Store and Google Inc's Android Play store.

January 2012 - Buys Israel's Anobit, a maker of flash storage technology, whose chips it already uses in gadgets such as the iPad. Israeli media valued the deal at USD 500 million, though no official numbers were released.

September 2010 - Buys Sweden-based Polar Rose AB, a maker of face recognition technology.

April 2010 - Buys Siri Inc, later incorporated as the popular voice-activated assistant in the iPhone 4S.

October 2009-July 2010 - Buys map services providers Placebase and Poly9. Apple is due to launch its own map platform with the upcoming iOS 6, replacing Google Maps.

January 2010 - Acquires Quattro Wireless Inc, reportedly paying $275 million for the privately held mobile advertising company. Apple launches its own mobile advertising platform iAds the following fall.

December 2009 - Buys online music service lala.com. Launches iTunes Match in 2011, which makes use of Lala's cloud technology to stream music on the iPhone.