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Apple's Cash Hoard Triggers Acqusition Rumors: Twitter, Electronic Arts
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I'm sure they would and all of us would expect them to work with the suppliers to ensure they are getting the best quality components possible, and i would certainly hope they have performance criteria set in the contracts etc.
ha ! what a joke
been so quite in apple new's
rumor sites now have to start making **** up to make sure there quoter is meet.
what a joke.
and is this the best you could come up with ? come get back to the draw board.
been so quite in apple new's
rumor sites now have to start making **** up to make sure there quoter is meet.
what a joke.
and is this the best you could come up with ? come get back to the draw board.
hmmm makes me wonder even more...
This is at best speculation, but it makes we wonder even more. As I could not place the recent hiring of two GPU chip designers and even a (product)manager from MS Xbox360 team.
So now there are rumors on buying EA. What is apple's end game? Games? Console even? The latter I can't see happening, but I think the iPhone is a pretty nice portable "gaming device" with all the downloads from the store. Could, with the rumors of a 10inch device, there be another gaming device/platform be introduced by Apple?
Well good times.... wait and see, maybe Apple will surprise us.
This is at best speculation, but it makes we wonder even more. As I could not place the recent hiring of two GPU chip designers and even a (product)manager from MS Xbox360 team.
So now there are rumors on buying EA. What is apple's end game? Games? Console even? The latter I can't see happening, but I think the iPhone is a pretty nice portable "gaming device" with all the downloads from the store. Could, with the rumors of a 10inch device, there be another gaming device/platform be introduced by Apple?
Well good times.... wait and see, maybe Apple will surprise us.
You know, it would be awesome if Apple bought out an established gaming company (especially one --not-- particularly favorable to Apple platforms) as a springboard into serious gaming on the Mac, iPhone and perhaps even an Apple console. But EA? I just don't think that's gonna happen.
Twitter... love the service... but c'mon!
Twitter... love the service... but c'mon!
I don't believe they would waste money on these purchases, they are just not related to what Apple does. Now if someone suggested NVIDIA for example it would be a lot more understandable.
I'd suggest they go after E-Ink, an OLED manufacturer, a wireless hardware manufacturer, or a flash memory company (SanDisk has a market cap in the $8B range, though there are probably better choices) to secure their supply for mobile devices.
I can't see that either EA or Twitter is a good fit for Apple. Sure they have plenty of cash but the downfall of good companies is that drive to acquire. I feel the Twitter is like AOL - fad today, gone tomorrow and would be a terrible purchase. EA is a good company, but why?
An E-Ink company maybe, for the patents or some exclusive technology that company might have. They`re not going to buy a manufacturer it`s just too big a liability. Take your flash memory example, suppose they did buy sandisk. They`d have to maintain a massive investment in R&D and building FABs to construct the chips and if someone else does it cheaper then what advantage have they bought? nada. Apple`s current contracts with several manufacturers give`s them the capacity they need and should one get a lead on the rest in some key area, Apple have the choice of buying from them, not stuck with the company they bought previously.
Apple is primarily an intellectual property shop, everything is outsourced and it makes sense in a globalised economy.
M.
Twitter makes no sense as it has zero cash generating capability. Doesn`t fit the standard by which Apple`s previous acquisitions have been measured.
EA is just too big. Is Apple really going to take on this multi billion dollar company with thousands of employees dedicated to making and selling games on PCs/Consoles and just let them continue? No they`d have to sack the majority of employees and retask the remaining to be iPhone / Mac developers. Might as well start from scratch.
If they wanted a games company they`d build one or they`d buy a small development house not a massive development and distribution house.
M.
EA is just too big. Is Apple really going to take on this multi billion dollar company with thousands of employees dedicated to making and selling games on PCs/Consoles and just let them continue? No they`d have to sack the majority of employees and retask the remaining to be iPhone / Mac developers. Might as well start from scratch.
If they wanted a games company they`d build one or they`d buy a small development house not a massive development and distribution house.
M.
Say what? Twitter is cool and all ... but to say it's more reliable than MobileMe is probably a stretch. Just ask all your Tweet Peeps how often the Twitter service is down!
I doubt they're buying them, they may be signing large advertising deals which is more likely, as Apples sales are beggining to wane and they need some backup.
Yes. Apple also doesn't seem to be too interested in the games market. I am sure there engineers and technologies at EA that they covet but it would be easier to buy just those.
As for AMD/NVIDIA etc. right now Apple is happy with how they are doing, I am sure they jump at suggestions from Apple of "Hey, could you do this? No don't ask why just do it and I might lift my skirt and show you my ankles later. Trust me, it's worth it." I have no doubt if they stop keeping up with Apple and supplying cool things that Apple will move on and if need be build it's own.
A gaming platform might make sense, beef up the AppleTV, probably only needs a bigger HD(unless you want to do a keep it on the net approach) and a serious video card. Add Mac games to the iTunes store. You don't need to buy EA to do that. Though they have been known to pull other companies employees onto campus to work on joint projects. An AppleTVG (TV and Games) would require a reasonable sized initial launch of games.
you know, it wasn't til i saw this that i see an actual purpose for apple buying twitter. (for the record, i think this rumor is untrue, apple doesn't buy things like that, but let us theorize)
so they buy twitter, and use it to 'replace' sms. the advantage is that they could in fact still interact with normal phones (you can get tweeted on your phone via sms) and then anyone with a data plan can avoid the absolute outragous sms costs that carriers put on us.
would it work? eh, probably not. but it would be nice to offer up the competition so that sms could be, you know, reasonably priced.
btw, if you have a smart phone, email your friends with smart phones, don't SMS them. *chimes* the more you know...
Apple does need to do something with the cash though, and if they don't have any plans, give it to the shareholders who own it. Two months ago they had a very rare (once a decade?) opportunity to buy businesses or their own stock at rock bottom prices, and they did nothing. Inaction like that comes at a tremendous cost to shareholders. And if shareholders like their money earning 3% or whatever Apple's getting on that cash, they can take their dividend check and put it in a crappy bank account.
I do appreciate conservative management, but having 2 or 3x the free cash that Warren Buffett has is probably going to far.
I do appreciate conservative management, but having 2 or 3x the free cash that Warren Buffett has is probably going to far.
It was a joke. If you research me on twitter you'll see that I know a thing or two about the site.
Say what? Twitter is cool and all ... but to say it's more reliable than MobileMe is probably a stretch. Just ask all your Tweet Peeps how often the Twitter service is down!
If acquisition of Adobe by Apple means a 95% discount on the Abobe Creative Suite for Mac users, count me in.
It's time something was done about Adobe's ridiculous price-gouging that insures that all of its users are either obscenely rich or torrent pirates. Not Twitter, anything but Twitter
Ditto. Twitter is the most pointless waste of time to come along since...I dunno...the Zune.
EA makes sense, Twitter not so much.
Buying EA would be a very good move for Apple because they could then guarantee that games appear on the Mac and the iPhone/iTouch. It would make the Mac even more attractive to the computer customer with a focus on gaming.
By contrast, acquiring Twitter makes zero sense to me. They wouldn't be gaining anything from it. There's no technology there that they would want and it's not like they'd want to advertise there.
IMHO, Apple should also buy a controlling interest in Intuit.
Buying EA would be a very good move for Apple because they could then guarantee that games appear on the Mac and the iPhone/iTouch. It would make the Mac even more attractive to the computer customer with a focus on gaming.
By contrast, acquiring Twitter makes zero sense to me. They wouldn't be gaining anything from it. There's no technology there that they would want and it's not like they'd want to advertise there.
IMHO, Apple should also buy a controlling interest in Intuit.
They have already spent the time ignoring that community. Why would you want to EA, their games are ok and mac's aren't gaming focused. Also there is zero room in the console market for Apple. Playing games on your phone or iPod is just a secondary feature.
Developers will continue to make knock-offs for the iPod/iPhone, it will never be a gaming machine. I don't see people buying an iPod or iPhone because of the games it offers. They either want a phone or an iPod and then the games are just a bonus.
looking at the list - my pick - Avid
Avid is an interesting company. They have a good market penetration, but a lot of their profit is from hardware tied to their software. They have two industry leading products in video and audio. They also are getting parts of their market eaten by Apple's Final Cut and Adobe's Premier. They also have a much better group solution (Unity) then Apple.
Also, Avid's market cap of 464.31M is within range of previous acquisitions of Apple.
PS:
ok - way out there - buy Luxology and add its products / technology to iPhoto / Aperture (imageSynth) and Final Cut Suite (modo).
Avid is an interesting company. They have a good market penetration, but a lot of their profit is from hardware tied to their software. They have two industry leading products in video and audio. They also are getting parts of their market eaten by Apple's Final Cut and Adobe's Premier. They also have a much better group solution (Unity) then Apple.
Also, Avid's market cap of 464.31M is within range of previous acquisitions of Apple.
PS:
ok - way out there - buy Luxology and add its products / technology to iPhoto / Aperture (imageSynth) and Final Cut Suite (modo).
As Twitter mostly seems to be an US only thing I bet Apple will go for it as Appple never cared about overseas' markets.
With this news of 29 Billion I think the Brits will be even more pleased with the price rises Apple inflicted last time around.
If only I could be arsed to ask you to explain that remark. Thankfully I can't.
Don't give a monkey cock for any of these companies. I'm definitely for reducing prices.
Apple does have a problem with it's cash reserve and that is with it's shareholders. Apple does not pay a dividend and with that much cash, no debt and staying cash positive quarter after quarter the natives are getting restless.
As for buying EA or Twitter one could only ask why. It would make little sense in the long term and not substantially alleviate the on hand cash bounty.
Now Adobe that would be a glorious, if possibly tempestuous, joining of two houses.
Let's just just fantasise about the possibilities. Apple would hold a large number of patents some dating back to the days of Aldus and more importantly the Postscript patents that are the basis for all those .pdf files that we use. A year after acquisition we might finally see an optimised code for Photoshop and other apps instead of being an afterthought to Windows. Think in terms of an unspoken bias to Mac performance instead of windows. The Mac hardware purchase benefit of finding a $500 coupon for Creative Suite 5 but only for Mac. The widespread advantage of having the de-facto group of graphics/ creative apps under one house and being able to leverage your hardware sales with them a la iTunes. As Shakespeare wrote "It is a union devoutly to be wished"....but it won't happen.
Problem is there is no love lost between Apple and Adobe. Adobe's board would scream blue murder at the very thought of an Apple acquisition. The poison pills would be flying like bullets in a war-zone.
As I see it there is a bigger issue. That would be the rumbling that you would hear should Apple make a move on Adobe. That rumble would emanate from the foundations below Redmond. Microsoft could not let Apple acquire Adobe and at the very least would engage in a series of counter offers to drive up the price probably with Adobe considering MS as a white knight. MS concern and annoyance at Apple would grow ten fold with a Apple controlled Adobe and it would consider such an aggressive move a direct threat.
No, the thirty or so billion will sit in Apples pockets until the shareholders start to really scream at the Jobs Mob and finally force a dividend of some type. At least I'll be a happier shareholder if an unhappy Adobe customer.
As for buying EA or Twitter one could only ask why. It would make little sense in the long term and not substantially alleviate the on hand cash bounty.
Now Adobe that would be a glorious, if possibly tempestuous, joining of two houses.
Let's just just fantasise about the possibilities. Apple would hold a large number of patents some dating back to the days of Aldus and more importantly the Postscript patents that are the basis for all those .pdf files that we use. A year after acquisition we might finally see an optimised code for Photoshop and other apps instead of being an afterthought to Windows. Think in terms of an unspoken bias to Mac performance instead of windows. The Mac hardware purchase benefit of finding a $500 coupon for Creative Suite 5 but only for Mac. The widespread advantage of having the de-facto group of graphics/ creative apps under one house and being able to leverage your hardware sales with them a la iTunes. As Shakespeare wrote "It is a union devoutly to be wished"....but it won't happen.
Problem is there is no love lost between Apple and Adobe. Adobe's board would scream blue murder at the very thought of an Apple acquisition. The poison pills would be flying like bullets in a war-zone.
As I see it there is a bigger issue. That would be the rumbling that you would hear should Apple make a move on Adobe. That rumble would emanate from the foundations below Redmond. Microsoft could not let Apple acquire Adobe and at the very least would engage in a series of counter offers to drive up the price probably with Adobe considering MS as a white knight. MS concern and annoyance at Apple would grow ten fold with a Apple controlled Adobe and it would consider such an aggressive move a direct threat.
No, the thirty or so billion will sit in Apples pockets until the shareholders start to really scream at the Jobs Mob and finally force a dividend of some type. At least I'll be a happier shareholder if an unhappy Adobe customer.
Regarding game consoles: the console itself is generally a money loser for a long time and you (hope) to make money off of the sales of the games & maybe accessories. I would be reluctant to see Apple get into this area as there is lots of money to lose and in some ways not much to gain.
Gaming itself: The problem I see for Apple is that the gamers like the ability to update their systems over time, as new tech comes along they can just upgrade the video card or when we did the switch from IDE to SATA and potentially on to SSD, where as with most of Apple's systems they are pretty much closed systems and you need to replace everything at once to get any gains. It doesn't necessarily stop the average user, but it might restrict their adoption & game ability (hardware wise) if we stick with the mini & iMac as the mainstream offerings.
Question: What is Apple's comfort zone when it comes to running projects at a loss for extended periods of time? I am assuming that it took a while for iPods & iTunes to really generate profit, but how much of a loss were they running at before the change over?
Just not sure they have the stomach to cope with getting into an industry where it might take you into the 2nd generation of hardware to really see money come in and that it normally takes 3 or 4 years at least per generation (consoles not music players)
Gaming itself: The problem I see for Apple is that the gamers like the ability to update their systems over time, as new tech comes along they can just upgrade the video card or when we did the switch from IDE to SATA and potentially on to SSD, where as with most of Apple's systems they are pretty much closed systems and you need to replace everything at once to get any gains. It doesn't necessarily stop the average user, but it might restrict their adoption & game ability (hardware wise) if we stick with the mini & iMac as the mainstream offerings.
Question: What is Apple's comfort zone when it comes to running projects at a loss for extended periods of time? I am assuming that it took a while for iPods & iTunes to really generate profit, but how much of a loss were they running at before the change over?
Just not sure they have the stomach to cope with getting into an industry where it might take you into the 2nd generation of hardware to really see money come in and that it normally takes 3 or 4 years at least per generation (consoles not music players)