Tuesday saw Apple announce the Apple Pay mobile payment system, the brand new way for iPhone users to buy physical goods with nothing more than their phones. But, if reports are to be believed, Apple Pay might have turned out rather differently because the company was apparently trying to buy mobile payment company Square.
According to TechCrunch Apple was offering $3 billion (£1.4 billion) in exchange for control over the company, which is the same amount it spent on Beats earlier this year. At the time Square was only valued at $2 billion (£1.2 billion), and despite the company’s increasing financial woes it still turned down Apple’s fairly generous offer. It’s worth mentioning that despite continuing rumoured cash flow problems, Square is now worth about $6 billion (£3.6 billion).