Analyst Suggest Sony-Apple Partnership

[maya]

You should really check your ticker symbols before you post. Apple's ticker is AAPL. In case anybody is going to run out and buy some stock

Too risky, at present. AAPL stock has now leveling point at present, its worse then a roller coaster.

A better idea of how Apple as a company will do in the future is a 3-5 year AAPL performance report.

 

[rrr]

Apple's stock price is at the highest level it has been in years.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that AAPL actually began trading at an all-time high somewhere last week when it surpassed the mid-70s. Of course the share price has been higher in Apple's history, but with adjustments for previous splits considered, I do believe that the price is not just at the highest level "in years" but also the highest level ever.


rrr

 

[relimw]

... sigh

another month, another Sony - Apple rumor.

What is it this time? Apple buys Sony, Sony buys Apple?

Apple buys Sony music, Sony buys Apple music?

Next thing you know: Apple will be considered IBM compatible.

... wait a minute, The G5 does have the IBM chip !!!

Does that mean that Windows machines are no longer IBM compatibles?

LOL! Now that's funny.

Hmm, AOL bought Time Warner, why not have Apple buy Sony? Lots of content for that iMovie store that's opening the Thursday after WWDC!

 

[IJ Reilly]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that AAPL actually began trading at an all-time high somewhere last week when it surpassed the mid-70s. Of course the share price has been higher in Apple's history, but with adjustments for previous splits considered, I do believe that the price is not just at the highest level "in years" but also the highest level ever.


rrr

That's correct. AAPL's previous all-time high closing price was $64.00 (split-adjusted) -- on March 3, 2000. They've been trading in record territory since the price closed above that figure, though I don't recall exactly when that happened.

 

[PlaceofDis]

im not sure what to make of this news, i dont think apple and sony are really going to form a huge partnership to be honest. they are too different in the way that they do their business. I can see them being collaborative on some issues, such as the HD camcorders and iMovie, but i cant see too much else happening. maybe ill be proven wrong though

 

[Mudbug]

That's correct. AAPL's previous all-time high closing price was $64.00 (split-adjusted) -- on March 3, 2000. They've been trading in record territory since the price closed above that figure, though I don't recall exactly when that happened.

I've now edited the frontpage story to reflect it being the highest ever. I didn't want to make the claim, since I hadn't done the math yet to adjust for the previous split. Thanks - IJ

 

[FaasNat]

LOL! Now that's funny.

Hmm, AOL bought Time Warner, why not have Apple buy Sony? Lots of content for that iMovie store that's opening the Thursday after WWDC!

I dunno about this. What happened to AOL after the bought Time Warner.........

 

[IJ Reilly]

To answer my own question... AAPL first broke through its previous historical high on 24 Nov 2004 (closing at $64.05). It traded in narrow range for a few weeks, then closed above $64.00 again on 5 Jan 2005 and hasn't looked back since (so far!).

BTW, I sold a third of my shares a few months ago but held onto the lot I bought in 1997 (an $8-9 basis). So I'm one happy investor.

 

[TorbX]

Well yeah, that japanese Sony Boss who appeared at the last keynote said the same thing.

"Perhaps Apple and Sony will make computers togheter someday too" or something like that he said.

Can't remember the exact words, though.

 

[IJ Reilly]

I've now edited the frontpage story to reflect it being the highest ever. I didn't want to make the claim, since I hadn't done the math yet to adjust for the previous split. Thanks - IJ

Happy to be of service.

(Sorry about MWSF though -- that's another story!)

 

[TheMasin9]

its apple

The cell processor presents a problem though - a huge computer type shift that may require rewriting the OS altogether - and probably no bakcwards support unless by emulation

Knowing apple and if they collaborate with sony, they will be able to make something work even though we may not see these cell processors until the G6 and os 10.5 lynx, we can still hope that everything comes together and remains backwards compatable.

 

[kenaustus]

I'm one of those that, at times, tend to forget that Apple puts half a billion dollars into R&D each year. When I do think of it, like now, I realize that there will be various prototypes in the labs - a lot of things that we'll never see, but some that will catch us by surprise. When you consider the R&D investments who would be willing to bet that Apple has not been working on a Mac that includes Cell technology? I wouldn't, especially with the close IBM - Apple working relationship.

If that is the case then Apple is very aware of what needs to be done in terms of hardware and OS X in order to deliver. Apple already has a 32/64 bit approach to OS X so I wouldn't put it past then to change that to a 32/64/Cell approach. The other interesting thought is that Cell would ease some of the pressure for faster G5 chips.

 

[neoelectronaut]

"Powerbook Cell Next Tuesday"

 

[ipodmann]

Sounds like a good plan to me. Anything to keep that stock price going up and up and up.

The potential that Apple now has is incredible. All we need is IBM to get on board and give us some faster chips.

 

[rjwill246]

this is just idle speculation. trotting the sony ceo out on stage to show off the HD camera, may have been just that, apple has done it before.

SJ has not trotted anyone of the stature of the President of Sony onstage before and those of high but lesser stature were there to present something concrete about an Apple application. Mr Ando's presence was, and is, baffling to say the least. All that really came from that exchange was that Sony had a fabulously priced HD home camera and that Apple was demonstrating HD! All that was just fluff. It is the unspoken, or in Mr Ando's case, scrambled message that has given rise to the rumours. Something is afoot here and while everything is conjecture and may all be coincidence, THAT episode is more than likely going to have significant portent and I am now convinced after watching that exchange a few times that SJ was, in fact, telling the world something significant about Apple and Sony without saying a single direct word about what it will be. This might be SJ's best moment in theater when we look back on it.

 

[Macmaniac]

AppleInsider takes a look at Merrill Lynch analyst Steven Milunovich's thoughts on an Apple/Sony partnership.


The news was also posted at CBS Marketwatch's daily email newsletter 'Before the Bell', citing that Merrill Lynch has raised its 12 month target price for AAPL to $102/share, up from the previous $85/share.

As of this posting, the current stock price is $88.50/share. Whether related to this news, or as part of the runup to the upcoming stock split at the end of February, Apple's stock price is at the highest level it has been in years.

Highest ever was sometime in 2000, I remember one day when AAPL was trading at $150. Of course it split after that, so before the split that was the highest ever.

 

[tsunake]

Umm, how pray tell?

Prehaps wiser minds have already been through this somewhere before?

Ow. That thread is full of so much ignorance and idiocy that I really want to hurt someone.

To be clear:
The Cell processor includes a simplified POWER core, including VMX (Altivec).
No "emulation" or anything will be necessary to execute PPC code on a Cell processor. The POWER core in the Cell is not a POWER 5 as has been suggested. Most of the fancy technology that makes a 970 or POWER 5 so fast has been eliminated or simplified in order to allow a very high clock frequency. It should be fast, but the 970 ought to be faster on basic CPU tasks and Altivec.

The Cell prototype that has been displayed includes 8 vectorized cores. These guys are designed on a cool stream based architecture. They do vector calculations FAST. And thanks to the integrated Rambus XDR and Flex/IO technology, the Cell processor has about 100GB/s of aggregate memory bandwidth. That's a whole lot. What this means is that with certain types of data, the Cell processor is capable of HUGE amounts of calculations, a theoretical 256 gigaflops.

Using the Cell processor in a Macintosh will require a new motherboard/chipset. It will require a bit of support at the OS level, but that's how it is with any new processor and memory architecture. However, to truly leverage the Cell's power will require new software. CoreImage and CoreVideo are designed to leverage the vector processing capabilities of advanced GPUs... which are not that different from the vector processing units of the Cell. It is not infeasible that Apple would enable CoreImage/CoreVideo to run on the Cell's vector units, thus the most immediate benefit of using the Cell processor would probably be seen in applications that use CoreImage/CoreVideo.

 

[dicklacara]

88.50? Crap!

It was like 79 a week ago, i knew i should buy

I bought some yesterday @ $84.60 As I post it is $87.50 or 3.32% ROI--

If it goes to 100 it would be about 20% return!

 

[billystlyes]

Why doesn't Sony just buy Apple for 125 bucks a share! Don't you just have this sneaky feeling that OS X is going to end up on the Sony Vaio line...I do !

 

[dicklacara]

It could be BOTH hardware AND content collaboration, in theory. And software from Apple most likely--except that Cell could mean involvement of Sony software developers too.

I'm skeptical about this suggestion--and about Cell in general. It sounds like it could be great, but it's a "maybe."

I am sure that in SOME form the PowerPC/POWER line has a bright future for Apple, though.

The controlling CPU on the Cell chip is a PPC.

I assume that OS X could run with little change on Cell... (Prolly already is). Then they could gradually rewrite portions to offload functions to the other CPUS.

 

[jadam]

I don't see CELL running a full-fledged Macintosh due to the lack of an Altivec unit.

It sure does have one.

Time to change what you think eh?

 

[maya]

Why doesn't Sony just buy Apple for 125 bucks a share! Don't you just have this sneaky feeling that OS X is going to end up on the Sony Vaio line...I do !

I can PS an image right now and you will have your dream come true.


Mac OS X running on a Vaio.

 

[PretendPCuser]

Faster?

Faster than real time? Does that mean the FCP reads your mind and processes the effects before you even think about it?

[/QUOTE]
edit: Imagine having real time effects in FCP that are 10 times faster than what is currently possible, or blindingly fast HD video encoding. These are the kinds of situations in which the Cell processor will excel. It would be a radical addition to the platform, but could provide an enormous leap in the video/audio processing ability of the Macintosh. Successfully supporting the Cell processor on the Macintosh platform could be a major coup for Apple.[/QUOTE]

 

[maya]

Faster than real time? Does that mean the FCP reads your mind and processes the effects before you even think about it?

Nah all that means is that MOTION will run at a normal speed.


FCP HD can integrate LiveType and Soundtrack, and add more RT effects.

 

[PretendPCuser]

Bah. Analysts

Or, it's because he bought Apple at $86 and wants to make a profit. So, hmmm. What name could we partner with Apple to get the stock price to go through the roof? Hmm, Sony?! Sounds good.

I have zero knowledge when it comes to stocks and analysts. Are analysts even allowed to trade stocks? If so, how is that possible? How can you believe anything they say? Is it all based on "Well, Joe Stanley Morning Westerhouse says the stocks going up, and we all know how good he is, let's all buy it" Stock goes up. (Meanwhile, Joe didn't know anything special other than he bought said stock yesterday and wants to make a profit today) Seems like it shouldn't be allowed to work that way. Somebody clue me in, please?

And yeah, i wish i had bought Apple when it was floundering around $15, but couldn't put $$ enough together to by more than 5 shares. Pathetic!!!

this is just idle speculation. the guy is just reading the same web sites we are and regurgitating it. it was rather scary when they were using think secret as a reference before macworld this year, but this is downright negligent.

i'm not sure what's worse, uninformed analysts predicting the imminent demise of apple, or uninformed analysts making highly speculative claims based on one apple fan's research.