A lesser-known but major participant in the Silicon Valley tech sector was bought today, highlighting the shifting economics of hardware and who wants to become more engaged in that field. PwC, a professional services company that offers accounting, management consulting, IT, and other services to corporate clients, is buying Surfaceink, a company that started as Apple’s primary hardware engineering partner upon Steve Jobs’ return as CEO.
The deal’s financial specifics are not being published. Surfaceink has never received outside financing, despite the fact that it not only develops and builds hardware ranging from consumer products to physical items utilized in business contexts but also maintains laboratories to test for acoustics, electronics, and other factors.
The firm has around 50 workers in the Bay Area, and they will all be joining as part of the purchase. This includes Eric Bauswell, the company’s founder and CEO.
Surfaceink will also continue to work with current clients while also collaborating with PwC to gain new business.
In an interview, Bauswell refused to identify how many clients the firm has, who they are, or what they are working on. However, the list of previous and current clients on its website reads like a who’s who of the technology industry: Amazon, Apple, Atari, Dell, Facebook, Google, HP, Intel, Microsoft, PayPal, Qualcomm, and others.
PwC is not well-known for its involvement in the hardware industry. However, it already has a number of major technology companies as clients, as well as a number of other companies that are either interested in building hardware products to extend their engagement with customers or, on a more basic, strategic level, interested in exploring what they might do with hardware—either their own or that of third-party partners—now and in the future to grow their business.
With Sufaceink, PwC receives in-house knowledge to better understand that component of their clients’ companies, as well as the opportunity to possibly work on it for them. Surfaceink was also motivated to investigate its future steps by its tendency to broaden interaction. According to Bauswell, such possibilities include possibly seeking outside financing to expand in-house consulting while remaining independent.
“It was on the heels of a strategic refresh within PwC,” said Jenny Koehler, PwC’s business development head, who focuses on strategic growth and was instrumental in bringing Surfaceink on board. “We’re always looking for interesting companies to partner with or acquire, and Surfaceink was one of them.” It just so happened that they were looking at [alternatives] for their reasons of being able to provide more extensively with their clientele.” She said that they began communicating around a year ago.
“There are a plethora of reasons why various firms might want to cooperate with us, “and they all end up being very individualized,” Bauswell continued. “In general, we have a team that has a lot of experience shipping products.” When individuals wish to launch a new product, enter a new business sector, or establish a new business unit, we are often the first boots on the ground. They will begin to fill out their team, which we will assist in order for them to be sustainable beyond our commitment. Dropping into a cohesive team to execute with an experienced team that has sold a number of products reduces a lot of risk.”
Surfaceink now seems to be an even more de-risked partner to even bigger customers, who may come from far outside of tech yet need to investigate methods of exploiting it better in the future as part of a big-five consulting business.
Surfaceink, for its part, has played an intriguing and crucial role in the evolution of the technology sector. It was established in 1999, particularly to be a partner with Apple, which had big and long-term plans in place after Steve Jobs’ restoration as CEO in 1997.
The couple worked together on almost every piece of hardware that Apple produced at the time, including the iMac, Powerbook, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and MacBook. That partnership, curiously, took a nasty turn in 2010, when Surfaceink displayed its own tablet prototypes in an attempt to attract new consumers.
Apple quickly abandoned the firm. Bauswell explained it to the New York Times at the time as “Apple’s increasing understanding of our turnkey capabilities… “I believe they see our capabilities as a competitive advantage,” he added.
Of course, Apple’s business had taken off by this stage, and there would have been a case for the expanded corporation to bring more hardware engineering in-house anyway.
Apple has adapted this approach to various elements of its product design, from chip manufacturing to map and streaming service creation. Apple also seemed to recruit employees after the breakup. According to a LinkedIn search, there are still at least 15 individuals at Apple working in hardware engineering who formerly worked at Surfaceink.
