Apple has acquired 9 companies since October of 2012, up from around 6 per year

Apple has acquired 9 companies since October 2012, and the rate was up from the previous roughly 6 companies per year. Not all of these acquisitions were announced.

The stat came from Apple CEO Tim Cook, who was speaking at the All Things D conference in Palos Verdes, CA.  Cook said that the pace would pick up as it went on, and that most of the companies weren’t big enough for Apple to disclose, but that it would do so if it had to.

And if that meant acquiring bigger companies, well that would be ok too, if Apple deemed it necessary. The only other acquisition news of the night was a question posed by All Things D’s Kara Swisher about whether Apple placed a bid for Israeli navigation startup Waze. Cook replied ‘no’.