In this kind of deal, the reality is that Apple are getting some seriously valuable IP.

They're hiring a team of software engineers who have been working together for a while in an area which is clearly of interest to Apple (I'm betting they're going to be working on Facetime).

They've been working with live video extensively. They know the lay of the land. It's very valuable.

And if you want to acquire this many engineers from a company simultaneously you're probably fighting against a huge amount of non-competes, so approaching the company and negotiating directly for the hires is the best way to avoid getting slapped with a lawsuit.

To paraphrase, they are getting the intellectual/s without the property.[1] =D

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[1] What is interesting, though, is that they may have legal reasons for this. Any extant creditors, for example. We may see a second stage disposition of the IP. Transfer of people for $$ != transfer of legal-owned Gaap assets, when it comes to fraudulent transfer. Relevant > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraudulent_conveyance

The IP (may be | is) worthless. The people, on the other hand, still have the potential to be very valuable (Remember, the reason that Color was able to raise so much money was because the team of founders has an impressive record of success.).