Apple will deploy 1Password for its 123,000 employees, acquisition talks are underway – BGR

Apple buys an average of 15 to 20 companies a year, according to CEO Tim Cook. Of these, we only hear about a couple, because most of these acquisitions or aqcui-hires are not intended for consumers or disclosed. However, we learned exclusively that Apple is planning an interesting partnership and a potential acquisition of AgileBits, maker of the popular 1Pbadword pbadword manager.

According to our source, after several months of planning, Apple plans to deploy 1Pbadword internally for all 123,000 employees. This does not only include Cupertino employees, but also extends to retail. In addition, the company entered into an agreement that included family plans, granting 5 family members of each employee a free 1Pbadword license. With more and more focus on safety in general, and especially at Apple, there are a number of reasons that this deal makes sense. We are told that 100 Apple employees will start using 1Pbadword as part of this initiative starting this week, with more than 123,000 users expected in the coming months.

Apple had very specific requirements for this deal, the code-named B2, all around, as one might expect. Some of them include a maximum response time of 4 hours (SLA) thanks to customer support for Apple employees, the translation of all 1Pbadword support pages in all major international languages, and much more again. Indeed, as AgileBits is not yet prepared for this type of influx of users, the company has turned to a third-party call management service that will help to provide telephone support to meet the contractual requirements of the agreement. Apple also uses the standalone version of 1Pbadword – the company initially considered using the version that includes the AgileBits sync service that routes through cloud providers like Amazon AWS, but Apple quickly decided that was not acceptable. The standalone version of the software allows users to sync via iCloud, which Apple is undoubtedly more comfortable with.

While Apple would have a custom rate for this incredibly large transaction with AgileBits, we have not been able to confirm the payroll company. A standard family license costs $ 60 a year. If the company was hypothetically getting a 50% discount, Apple would pay about $ 2.5 million a year for the transaction. There is certainly a lot of revenue involved here, and we have also confirmed that AgileBits has started paying big premiums after signing this deal. Not only did the executive officers receive six-figure bonuses each, but AgileBits also paid a bonus to every employee in the company.

1Pbadword has been used for many years by consumers and businesses from all sectors and from all sectors so it's not surprising that Apple thinks it's all about of software on which the company can support in security matters. But an impending question is why Apple would pay millions of dollars a year for the transaction instead of making a pure purchase.

The annual revenue of AgileBits would be in the range of $ 5 to $ 10 million, and our source told us the business would likely sell for two to three times more revenue. Could Apple just kick in before diving? Maybe, but that seems unlikely at this point. Either this transaction is the actual acquisition, structured in a way that provides additional annual income for a number of years, or there is something going on there. other. Jeff Shiner, CEO of AgileBits, recently heard about the "Apple Acquisition" in the Toronto office's boardroom, but we have no specific details about the context or details of the potential deal. We contacted Apple and AgileBits to comment.

It would be really nice to see Apple integrate 1Pbadword, or an Apple-esque version, as the company did with the acquisition of iOS Workflow and the new shortcuts.

UPDATE: AgileBits said in a tweet from its 1Pbadword account that it was not acquired and plans to remain independent. The statement of the company does not address the question of whether or not acquisition negotiations took place