Daily deals dynamo Groupon (GRPN 0.50%) has been working nonstop in search of a sustainable business model. And interestingly enough, Groupon's most recent effort to pivot away from those same daily deals that made the company famous will also include a little help from none other than tech giant Apple (AAPL +1.96%).
Since it went public in late 2011, Groupon's struggles have been well documented. As many of its smaller daily deals brethren eventually closed up shop, Groupon has been able to buy itself time, thanks in no small part to its industry-leading scale. All told, Groupon has still posted net losses in each of the last three years.
Source: Groupon.
However, Groupon is hoping to put its history of financial troubles behind it, and its recently launched Gnome merchant software ecosystem could help it in that effort.
Ditch your hardware for Apple's iPad
A key aspect of Groupon's pitch in pushing out Gnome to its prospective merchant partners is the inclusion of one of Apple's uber-popular iPads, which serves as the hardware that powers the service.
Want an iPad? Ditch your old hardware like Verifone's card processors in favor of the iPad, so the pitch goes.
There are certainly worse pitches to make to the small and medium-sized businesses that Groupon hopes to court with Gnome. More broadly, Groupon's strategy to leverage the highly desirable nature of the iPad Mini helps make the service all the more compelling. And in the video below, tech and telecom specialist Andrew Tonner discusses what this move could hold for both Groupon and Apple.
