If IBM bought Apple. . .

[Shrek]

. . .would we then have a machine called the IBM Macintosh? Kinda funny when you think about it. Just 21 years ago IBM introduced the PC (or Personal Computer) and in the near future we may be looking at the IBM Macintosh. What a name?!

Nowadays, if the Apple stock price doesn't go up, market share continues to go down, and the company continues to lose money, an Apple buyout by IBM could be coming. Though in such a case I think such a move would be beneficial for the two companies, and good for the industry. Hey, for those of you that think Steve Jobs is a loser, you just might like this.

 

[Megaquad]

Believe it or not, some people think that IBM made macintosh in 1984, and that no macs exist today..

 

[Gelfin]

IBM buying Apple would most likely spell the end of Apple as a going concern. Big Blue makes some good stuff, but they couldn't market water in the desert. Selling things to consumers is just not what IBM is cut out to do, and they've screwed up pretty much every significant attempt they've made at it. Apple, on the other hand, succeeds largely through corporate charisma IBM totally lacks.

I think a buyout would cast Apple into the position of the goose that lays the golden eggs.

(edit)Besides which, I'm no economist, but Apple's performance seems to be pretty reasonably tracking with the market as a whole, while (if I read it right) IBM has been slightly underperforming the market over the last year or so, though I'd like to hear from somebody who actually understands that sstuff.

 

[Shrek]

Originally posted by Gelfin
I think a buyout would cast Apple into the position of the goose that lays the golden eggs.

<--- Says sarcastically: Um, yes, exactly.

EDIT: If Apple ever found itself struggling to survive, I think that selling themselves to IBM would be the best option. 'Nuff said.

 

[solvs]

Originally posted by Shrek
[/B]If Apple ever found itself struggling to survive, I think that selling themselves to IBM would be the best option. 'Nuff said.[/B]

I dunno, I think there would be better options.

Give new meaning to the term IBM compatible though...

 

[Gelfin]

Originally posted by Shrek


<--- Says sarcastically: Um, yes, exactly.

EDIT: If Apple ever found itself struggling to survive, I think that selling themselves to IBM would be the best option. 'Nuff said.

Do you remember what happened to the goose that laid the golden eggs? It got slaughtered and cut open to find the source of the magic, but there was nothing there. That's the point I'm making. That's what would happen to Apple if they were purchased by IBM. It might be good for Apple shareholders in the short term, but it wouldn't be good for Apple customers at all.

 

[Shrek]

You got any better ideas, Gelfin?

 

[Gelfin]

Originally posted by Shrek
You got any better ideas, Gelfin?

No, but I don't think I'm under any burden to have a better idea here. My lack of a better idea doesn't necessarily make your idea good.

 

[Gaz]

Originally posted by Gelfin
My lack of a better idea doesn't necessarily make your idea good.

That is probably the most intelligent thing said on these forums for a long time.

*if* IBM was to buy Apple I would have thought Apple would operate as they do now and the big blue would just inject cash and maybe provide some components. It would be very silly to absorb Apple as Apple is almost a perfect contrast to IBM in terms of target markets.

 

[Shrek]

Originally posted by Gaz
*if* IBM was to buy Apple I would have thought Apple would operate as they do now and the big blue would just inject cash and maybe provide some components. It would be very silly to absorb Apple as Apple is almost a perfect contrast to IBM in terms of target markets.

Um, yes, exactly. A complete Apple-IBM integration might not be a good idea. Apple should still be able to use IBM's money to do whatever it wants, but that doesn't mean that the Apple brand name won't change; it very well could.

 

[Gaz]

Originally posted by Shrek
but that doesn't mean that the Apple brand name won't change; it very well could.

Well that would all depend on terms in the contract. Most likely the contract would let Apple continue as a separate company and that IBM would have no control. IBM have been around for a long time and I don't think they would be foolish enough to try and change Apple; provide them with better resources, e.g. people and hardware.

Anyway Apple is one of the few computer companies doing well so this is won't happen anytime soon. Anyway the way Apple is positioning themself I can see them getting stronger slowly but steadily.

The computing world is fickle so don't be surprised if Microsoft and the like lose power. Apple is playing with standards and that is probably the best thing they could do right now.

G

 

[mmmdreg]

Re: If IBM bought Apple. . .

Originally posted by Shrek


Nowadays, if the Apple stock price doesn't go up, market share continues to go down, and the company continues to lose money, an Apple buyout by IBM could be coming.

Apple seems to be doing well in the computer industry compared to others although it has had hard times....it is unrealistic to expect its market share to rise as it is one company against many so even if the amount of macs sold grows, the market share is in decline exponentially (?)....say if everyone who owns a mac bought another one at one time while everyone who owns a PC buys one of them at exactly the same time, mac market share would decrease...

 

[Sun Baked]

Mac OS X is a strong Unix with a very user-friendly GUI...

IBM has been moving a lot of the Big Iron to Power/PowerPC cores - even the old AS/400s can be had in a PowerPC variant.

The IBM workstations have been rather stagnant and the new Power Lite processors hold quite a bit of promise in reenergizing the old workstations.

Now whether OS X survives as a GUI, fully intact, or as a client OS - the though of IBM offering Big Iron and workstations using the Aqua interface would be really interesting.

Imagine, a user friendly mainframe that's as easy to work with as the XServe.

But as some of the other mergers have shown, when 2 OSs are owned by one company - one will definitely die - and IBM would hold both AIX and OS X, but IBM and Apple did work together at one point on an OS project - so the possibility does exist in OS X surviving on Power & PowerPCs.

 

[bousozoku]

While IBM has huge technologies and could re-focus the market by producing a machine which would eclipse anything we might call a PC or Macintosh, it won't. IBM's leadership is now as clueless as that of Xerox in the 1970s and 1980s. Remember what happened to the developers of those Xerox technologies? They went elsewhere and created ideas and products for computers as Xerox let them languish. Ethernet, GUI, and precision printing, all available because of Xerox, and despite them.

Apple would be better to buy/merge with/partner with SGI, which has a great deal of the 3D, t.v., and movie markets. SGI also is a niche player overall, but has a great presence in video as Apple has in audio.

 

[Sun Baked]

Can't really call a stagnated stock price a bad thing if the company is still relatively healthy and can move forward.

The absolute worst thing a company can do is follow the AT&T/Lucent model for creating shareholder wealth by fragmenting the company into smaller and smaller units when the stock price stagnates.

These move create small units with no name recognition that quickly are battered by the competition.

AT&T/Lucent has fragmented so much that I no longer know who supplies/owns the software, services, microchips, phone systems, installation services, long distance, fiber backbone, etc. that used to be AT&T/Lucent.

Plus a lot of the megacorps are exploding as the inflated values of the corps are falling far below the value of the original independent units. ie. Terminal Debt Syndrome.

 

[tliptak]

Originally posted by Gelfin


Do you remember what happened to the goose that laid the golden eggs? It got slaughtered and cut open to find the source of the magic, but there was nothing there. That's the point I'm making. That's what would happen to Apple if they were purchased by IBM. It might be good for Apple shareholders in the short term, but it wouldn't be good for Apple customers at all.

Really I didn't know that. Cool

 

[scem0]

A whole bunch of people bought the new iBooks and Powerbooks,
I don't think apple will be bought any time soon if ever. Apple is on
a good streak. If they can keep it up then that will be very good.