Apple plots Anobit purchase for iPhone, iPad, MacBook?

By Jonny Evans

Apple [AAPL] may have found a relatively cheap solution to double the capacity of its MacBook Air, iPhones, iPads and other flash memory-equipped devices without adding bulk. This is why the company is rumored to be purchasing Israel's Anobit.

[ABOVE: This is a rare 22-minute presentation given by Steve Jobs in 1980. This video was gifted to Computer History Museum by Regis McKenna.]

Welcome to the iFamily

Apple already uses Anobit technology within its iPhones, iPads and MacBook Air products. South Korea's Hynix reportedly uses Anobit's tech for a flash memory chip inside the iPhone 4S.  

As reported by TechCrunch/Calcalist this morning, Anobit is a fabless semiconductor company that specializes in flash storage solutions, including server/enterprise grade SSD's, Memory Controllers and more.

There's no guarantee this report is correct, and it is important to note that Anobit attended the Barclay's Capital Global Technology Conference in San Francisco last week and is looking for further investment (more below).

Bit costly though

The rumored acquisition price seems pretty steep for Apple: $400-500 million. Intel took its own $32 million position in the company just last year, so it's clear there's something hot about the tech behind this firm.

However, at up to $500 million this would be the biggest acquisition deal ever made by Apple, other than the historical 1997 NeXT purchase.

Faster, tougher, affordable

Anobit claims its Memory Signal Processing (MSP) technology "significantly improves endurance, performance and cost of flash storage products  and systems."

A Computerworld report in September discussed Anobit's most recently-introduced enterprise class SSDs, explaining the firm had: "Doubled the capacity of its SSD to 800GB, more than doubled performance to 540MBps, halved the size of its NAND flash circuitry, and added a Serial-Attached SCSI (SAS) model to its line-up."

Roughty-toughty

Alongside better capacity and relative affordability, Anobit's tech also enables systems to be long lasting, "Roughly 10-15 times that of typical consumer-based NAND flash." We'll see how that translates to the iOS world should this deal go through.

Storage-Switzerland explains the Israeli firm's solution can: "Detect flash problems in flash cells when they're much older, allowing them to extend the usable life of MLC flash significantly longer than other manufacturers. The net of this ability is Anobit's flash products have much longer endurance than comparable products from other vendors. They claim commercial-grade MLC endurance comparable to that of SLC flash from other manufacturers. Theoretically, this would enable users to replace SLC flash with the more economical MLC products."

iPhone, iPad, MacBook Air

How might these technologies be implemented?

Take the iPod classic, this could conceivably be made available as a 256GB flash device: you'd get an instant-on device with superb battery life, excellent durability and plenty of space for those hefty Lossless Audio files.

The technology may enable product designers to double the capacity fo devices without requiring any extra bulk of memory be installed, effectively getting more storage, this would enable a slew of extremely high capacity mobile devices.

With the future of the Mac platform seemingly ever more MacBook Air-shaped, it will be interesting to see just how much capacity the rumored 15-inch models will deliver. The benefit for iPads is also clear.

Apple may not decide to acquire the company. As I explained above, Anobit is exploring its financing options, Apple may instead choose to take a strategic investment in the firm.

Existing investors include Israeli fund Pitango, American Battery Ventures, Intel and Micron Technologies.

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