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CarpalMac

macrumors 68000
Nov 19, 2012
1,617
3,984
UK
Seems like a silly thing to suggest, but is there ever a chance that Apple could get too big and wealthy?

They could become too dominant in the market, thus be able to very slowly deliver developments to the customer whilst charging a premium price. (Cough - iPad mini 3...)

Competition is a win for the consumer as it drives prices down and innovation up.

Some people on this forum (the "die Samsung, die" mob) would benefit from learning and understanding this fact as well.
 

nuckinfutz

macrumors 603
Jul 3, 2002
5,537
398
Middle Earth
The huge acquisitions that Apple missed out on were Evernote and SpringPad. Either of these apps would have given Apple a strong contender to Microsoft's OneNote software and Evernote, especially has taken off and averages $15 million a month or $120 million a year just from subscriptions.

Lastly, with home automation growing I was holding out (pre-Beats of course) for Apple to acquire Sonos and prior to that Nest and Dropcam. Looking back though, Apple hasn't shown much of an interest in home automation so I guess its not a surprise that those didn't pan out.

I don't see Apple wanting to get into subscription based products beyond Beats music iTunes match and iCloud Storage. They've already acquired the companies behind Catch and Cue and along with iWork they've got the tools to put something interesting together. Question is will they?

Sonos would be a nice buy but Airplay is on it's way to delivering the raison d'etre for Sonos and that's synchronized music.

Next and Dropcam would be poor buys IMO. Thermostat companies are a dime a dozen and so are camera companies. Apple was smart to simply make a layer of abstraction (Homekit) and not get too deep into platform stew.
 

Tankmaze

macrumors 68000
Mar 7, 2012
1,707
351

If sapphire is really the next greatest material for touchscreen, apple should invest heavily on it. Just like when they bought PA semi back in 2008 which the talent help apple build custom chips, as we now know as the Ax chips.
 

OatmealRocks

macrumors 6502a
Jul 30, 2009
626
3
If sapphire is really the next greatest material for touchscreen, apple should invest heavily on it. Just like when they bought PA semi back in 2008 which the talent help apple build custom chips, as we now know as the Ax chips.

They invested in it and it blew up in their face. You want them to buy it on top of that?
 

OatmealRocks

macrumors 6502a
Jul 30, 2009
626
3
More like management problem with GTA, not the talent and tools which they definitely have.

I don't think so. Management was just the icing and the front facing people we have seen. They probably don't have the talent either or there would not be production issues at 15-20x their current familiarity and per requirements required by their contract. Apple would be stupid to be buy it and what use the same staff hoping they would now be able to do it? Or worst pick another company (one they ignored previously) hoping they would do it? Nope. Back to China they go.
 
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