Apple to Make an Offer to Acquire ARM?

[Warbrain]

In my terms, a company that want to log my every single dns and search entry and then share it with 3rd parties is the furthest away from relatively decent. Apple doesn't control what apps I can download. Anyone can jailbreak their iphone and install whatever they want if the hundreds of thousands of apps in the store are not enough for them for some reason. Not to mention, every mobile phone maker has a signing system for their apps at the moment.

Guess what? Every search engine logs your search entry and shares it with 3rd parties. You're never going to get away from it. Your DNS? Hope you trust your ISP.

Apple does control what you can download. Jailbreaking is not an solution - having the ability to install 3rd-party apps is what should happen without having to void your warranty in order to do so. You shouldn't have to jailbreak in order to run the apps that you want to run.

Signing systems are fine, restricting 3rd-party access is not.

 

[iBug2]

Guess what? Every search engine logs your search entry and shares it with 3rd parties. You're never going to get away from it. Your DNS? Hope you trust your ISP.

Apple does control what you can download. Jailbreaking is not an solution - having the ability to install 3rd-party apps is what should happen without having to void your warranty in order to do so. You shouldn't have to jailbreak in order to run the apps that you want to run.

Signing systems are fine, restricting 3rd-party access is not.

You'll have to jailbreak any phone to run an unsigned app. And btw just because every search engine does it, it doesn't make it ok.

 

[Analog Kid]

Wow-- ever have one of those moments where you're staring at something and you can't figure it out, and then all of a sudden your brain realizes that what you're looking at is much, much bigger than it thought and your knees go all weak?

Yeah, that just happened.


I can envision the board meeting where Jobs calls in the directors and announces his plans to acquire ARM. The whole board yelling on top of each other why this is a dumb idea and Jobs sitting back with that smug smile. No need to answer the arguments-- it'll all eventually die down in a puddle of humility because, deep down, they realize it all makes sense.

Which they would do, so no point. iPhone sales dominance doesn't need a squeeze-out like this which would only be temporary at best anyway.

Exactly. I wouldn't be surprised if Intel has their lobbyists on the phone now to make sure the acquisition happens. It's really the only chance Atom has...

If I were Steve Jobs and decided to acquire ARM, I would keep everybody in the loop EXCEPT for Google's Android/ChromeOS devices.

Then we all get to sit back and laugh as Google gets it in their head they'll just design their own CPU. It'll be some ad writer's 20% project...

 

[iBug2]

Android was purchased by Google back in 2005!

No, I think Apple buying ARM would be in violation of anti-trust laws in either the US or EU and it would be blocked. It is neither smart nor legal.

We are talking about a possible scenario where Apple does purchase ARM. In that case it is legal, otherwise they wouldn't be able to purchase it anyway. So if the purchase happens, it's legal

And ofc it's smart.

 

[Cerebrus' Maw]

And up until 10 minutes ago there was no indication that Apple would buy ARM.

That's not entirely true. ARM being a startup Apple company back in the early nineties. Also, I believe there there was a very close links during their current lifespan. (wasen't their some rumor that Apple was eying up ARM in 2005? I'll see if I can track that down)

I honestly dont think/see this happening though. It's one thing to buy a start up company, something else entirely to purchase an established company that is doing very well and has strong relations in pretty much all of the acquirers' potential rivalries. You have to remember that ARM might not even want to be bought out.

 

[protekt0r]

Sorry but anyone who thinks this is remotely plausible from a regulatory standpoint is still too high from 4/20 festivities.

What, the US government is going to take Apple's 'word' that they won't jack up licensing rates? Yeah because that's how it goes in the business world.
Nearly 98% of the mobile phone market runs ARM architecture chips. No way the relevant anti-trust agencies (FTC in this case, if not the DOJ as well) allow this to even be discussed. There really isn't a competing tech here to counter ARM. x86 isn't possible for phones. None of you should even want this to happen. You folks hate the Microsoft monopoly, but want an Apple one?

it's both probable and highly likely. if Apple didn't think it'd clear regulatory hurdles, they wouldn't be talking to ARM. and if you think this is just some crazy rumor, you're mistaken.

As I already laid out earlier, Apple will not cut licensing to anyone. As someone already astutely pointed out, ARM chips power waaay more than just cell phones. And the same chips in cellphones power other stuff like STB's. How retarded would it be for Apple to cut off licensing to Samsung when only a sliver of Samsung's revenue comes from cellphones? furthermore, Apple can't just tell Samsung "ok, you can sell your chips to Scientific Atlanta, but not Moto and HTC."

everyone needs to do exactly what you're chastising them for, smoke a joint, eat a cinnabon, and chill the f*ck out. this isn't a monopoly and it isn't the end of the world. Apple will license to everyone.

All this is about is Apple investing their cash hoard and saving some $$$ on licensing.

 

[iBug2]

That's not entirely true. ARM being a startup Apple company back in the early nineties. Also, I believe there there was a very close links during their current lifespan. (wasen't their some rumor that Apple was eying up ARM in 2005? I'll see if I can track that down)

I honestly dont think/see this happening though. It's one thing to buy a start up company, something else entirely to purchase an established company that is doing very well and has strong relations in pretty much all of the acquirers' potential rivalries. You have to remember that ARM might not even want to be bought out.

Sure, in that case there won't be anything to talk about anyway. But I don't remember seeing any rumors about Apple wanting to purchase ARM lately. I thought they were done with the whole thing when they bought PA Semi.

 

[rucdanuc]

would not Apple be more interested in continuing to sell chips to competitors?

 

[marksman]

I have no clue on the regulatory feasibility of this, but seems like if it were allowed to happen, and apple were to prevent others from using arm chips. it could kill a huge portion of the mobile segment.

But not the good portion.

 

[MarkMoseley1]

This is a surprise! With all of the attention from the leaked iPhone and now this, just seems a little to good to be completely true. But if I were Apple and had all of that money sitting around, buying a chip manufacture like ARM would almost be a winner in my book. Just think of how much more Apple can have a say in future chip designs that can be their own. Compact, best performing, and low power consumption, light years ahead of the next guy...

 

[Tanegashima]

would not Apple be more interested in continuing to sell chips to competitors?

ARM doesn't fab or sell chips.

 

[I WAS the one]

Pssssssst Apple, let them compete, is nothing wrong about it.

 

[min_t]

Here's a thought.

Apple buys ARM and re-assures all current customers that nothing will change. However, no new customers will be added. Everyone gets to play in the game of mobile except MSFT since they are not currently using ARM chips for Win 7 mobile series version.

 

[bdkennedy1]

Someone is going to buy it, so it may as well be Apple. I sure as hell don't want Google getting a hold of it.

 

[skn]

Bad news for customers in general if Apple decides to stop selling (licensing) ARM processors...

 

[theBB]

Apple's strong suit is not the hardware it is the interface, which means software. Wouldn't it make more sense for them to buy a software company instead to grow the business in that area? Adobe might make sense for example if the target is creative professionals. I am pretty sure there are other more consumer oriented software developers out there that can bring in more innovation.

Of course, I did not think purchasing PA Semi was a bright idea, either, but Apple thought otherwise. Still, if I were to bet, I'd put my money against this merger happening.

 

[iGod 2.0]

The Movement Baby!!

Apple keeps moving!!! On to the next one!!

 

[cmaier]

Bad news for customers in general if Apple decides to stop selling ARM processors...

For the nth time, why would anyone think this would happen? Would you buy a restaurant and stop taking customers? But a car dealership and stop selling cars?

 

[Yankee617]

Steve Jobs is a Bill Gates wannabe.
Apple is not better or different than Micro$oft.
If they could, they (Apple) would LOVE to dominate the PC market, and the mobile phone market, and the tablet market, and the portable music player market.
All with proprietary software and hardware.
They would (and do) sue anybody who dares duplicate functionality.
I would love to see other companies challenge Micro$oft, and Intel, and Cisco the that there are real choices for we consumers/users.
But sadly, Apple is cut from the same cloth as Micro$oft and every other monopolist.

Oh you are so VERY wrong. Steve never wanted to be anything like Bill and Apple is very different from Microsoft. (Whether Apple is better or not depends on how you measure better.)

Apple has no interest in dominating any market. Apple just wants the high-end of every market because that's where the high-margin business is.

Compare this to Nokia. Nokia invested heavily in call-phone making capacity so they could mass-manufacture the lowest-cost cell-phones enabling them to capture the most market-share... they now sell more cell-phones than anyone else, but these are mostly the low-cost low-margin cell phones sold to low-income people in 3rd-world countries. Apple couldn't care less about that portion of the cell-phone market. Apple's iPhone is clearly targeted at the very top-end of the cell-phone market where it can command a lot of media attention as well as high profit-margins. Sure Apple wants to dominate the smartphone segment of the cell-phone market, but this segment will always be a tiny fraction of the overall market.

Apple never wanted to dominate the entire PC market either. They've only wanted to build the best quality (and highest margin) PC's that would dominate the top-end of this market. When Job's wasn't at Apple, they tried to follow a different business strategy by allowing 3rd parties to make PC hardware of their own design that would run MacOS... this was a strategy designed to try and "beat" Microsoft at their own game. Jobs was smart to kill that strategy as soon as he returned to Apple. He knew that he could only build the best products if he controlled the entire design process (or, at least, the vast majority of it) and that if he had the best products he could command the highest prices/margins. Under Jobs, Apple will never compete on price; they always compete on design and product quality. That's true whether they're going after a high-priced segment or a low-priced segment and its VERY different from HP or Dell or myriad others.

Jobs' vision is harder to see and understand in the PC marketplace than it is in the cell-phone marketplace. This vision is all about excellence and superiority in product design and manufacturing quality... and using this superiority to command a slightly higher price and higher margin than competing products. He doesn't want to kill those competing products, he loves and embraces those competing products because they still have to turn a profit (albeit on slimmer margins)... so they create a price-support under his own high-margin products.

A monopolist wants to kill his competition. Jobs embraces his competition.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

I am all in on this one

Go get ARM, Apple.

 

[JohnDoe98]

How much for AMD, ARM, and Nvidia?

 

[mdriftmeyer]

Oh you are so VERY wrong. Steve never wanted to be anything like Bill and Apple is very different from Microsoft. (Whether Apple is better or not depends on how you measure better.)

Apple has no interest in dominating any market. Apple just wants the high-end of every market because that's where the high-margin business is.

Compare this to Nokia. Nokia invested heavily in call-phone making capacity so they could mass-manufacture the lowest-cost cell-phones enabling them to capture the most market-share... they now sell more cell-phones than anyone else, but these are mostly the low-cost low-margin cell phones sold to low-income people in 3rd-world countries. Apple couldn't care less about that portion of the cell-phone market. Apple's iPhone is clearly targeted at the very top-end of the cell-phone market where it can command a lot of media attention as well as high profit-margins. Sure Apple wants to dominate the smartphone segment of the cell-phone market, but this segment will always be a tiny fraction of the overall market.

Apple never wanted to dominate the entire PC market either. They've only wanted to build the best quality (and highest margin) PC's that would dominate the top-end of this market. When Job's wasn't at Apple, they tried to follow a different business strategy by allowing 3rd parties to make PC hardware of their own design that would run MacOS... this was a strategy designed to try and "beat" Microsoft at their own game. Jobs was smart to kill that strategy as soon as he returned to Apple. He knew that he could only build the best products if he controlled the entire design process (or, at least, the vast majority of it) and that if he had the best products he could command the highest prices/margins. Under Jobs, Apple will never compete on price; they always compete on design and product quality. That's true whether they're going after a high-priced segment or a low-priced segment and its VERY different from HP or Dell or myriad others.

Jobs' vision is harder to see and understand in the PC marketplace than it is in the cell-phone marketplace. This vision is all about excellence and superiority in product design and manufacturing quality... and using this superiority to command a slightly higher price and higher margin than competing products. He doesn't want to kill those competing products, he loves and embraces those competing products because they still have to turn a profit (albeit on slimmer margins)... so they create a price-support under his own high-margin products.

A monopolist wants to kill his competition. Jobs embraces his competition.

Ten minutes in the room with both of them should silence any claims that Steve is a Bill Gates wannabe.

They aren't even in the same hemispheres.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

How much for AMD, ARM, and Nvidia?

We don't need Nvidia.

To take AMD or not to take AMD, that is the question.

 

[Pachang]

So many experts in this thread

Amazing how many people have business law degrees and know apple's plans before they have even done anything.

 

[cmaier]

Amazing how many people have business law degrees and know apple's plans before they have even done anything.

what's a "business law degree?"