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Speculation of an Apple Acquisition Drives Sony's Stock Price Up
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I completely agree. Macs, Vaio's, and ThinkPad's are the only way to go.
Some people on this site blindly dismiss anything non-Mac, but try out a Vaio- they're not that bad, and I actually respect Sony's longstanding emphasis on quality and design.
Yes. But otherwise... Look at these things! I think they are beautiful!
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Apple buying Sony? Oh boy! Someone is really setting up the elements for the most epic April Fool's joke, ever. A 6 month set-up....then, BAM! April Fools!
Seriously. There is no precedence for Apple buying Sony. Sony is too large and has too many holdings. There is no realistic way that Apple could easily get it's hands around/control all those Sony operations. It would be too much liability to Apple Inc.'s balance sheet and performance. At most, I could see them buying an individual Sony divison...but not the whole entity (company).
Seriously. There is no precedence for Apple buying Sony. Sony is too large and has too many holdings. There is no realistic way that Apple could easily get it's hands around/control all those Sony operations. It would be too much liability to Apple Inc.'s balance sheet and performance. At most, I could see them buying an individual Sony divison...but not the whole entity (company).
Again, I would differ.
I have had three or four Vaio's.
Dreadful build quality, creaky cases. The PCMCIA card dock stopped working because mechanical stress lifted the connections off the PCB. My last one had a viewing angle so narrow, that *wherever* you sat, the screen was partially inverted.
Just had a string of bad experiences.
C.
Sony does make great quality items. such as TV, Gaming consoles, AV recievers, dvd/bluray players. They are spread a little thin tho!
I respect Sony, because altho they dont have the profit margin apple does, I can always expect the latest and great from them! Which alternatively makes profit margins thin.
Sony is more of a premium brand than apple in some cases.
Sony has nothing to offer Apple.
Apple buys companies to acquire innovative technologies to bring intoproducts.
What could Sony offer Apple... alarm clock radios, TVs, cellphones, mp3 players, hi-fi speakers, car audio. etc... I don't see Apple wanting anything that Sony has. Sony doesn't lead anymore, it follows.
It is always possible to buy certain parts of a company and not the whole thing.
I would think that Sony is not something Apple would want because it has some similar products. Rather something like Netflix or some other gaming/entertainment business would tie in with iTunes, iBook, etc.
What stock manipulation is this?
The baggage and debt of Sony would make Apple immediately dump this notion.
The baggage and debt of Sony would make Apple immediately dump this notion.
All true, but ....
I have to think this rumor got started when people started reading the interview with Apple's former CEO, John Sculley, that was done in preparation for the "Game Changers" episode on Jobs that aired on Bloomberg TV.
He described how Steve Jobs had always admired Sony and even scheduled a visit to their factory one time, where he was intrigued by such things as the plant giving workers different colored shirts depending on their job function. (We can see that idea was re-used in the Apple retail stores, years later.) And as I recall, Apple even contracted Sony to build one of their early Powerbook Duo machines for them, many years ago.
He explained how Sony had the same idea Jobs had, that style was just as important as the guts of the product. But as things transitioned from analog to digital, Sony faltered. (EG. The iPod should have really been something Sony created, since they invented the Walkman and all. But instead, Apple did it -- because Sony was struggling at that point to re-invent things for a digital world.)
All of this helps tie the two companies together, so you can follow the logic behind Apple's rumored interest in acquiring them. But realistically, I don't think it would be wise on Apple's part. Apple is so focused on a relatively small number of products. They focus on one area at a time, basically, and only release something when they think it's ready. Sony, by contrast, has their hands in all sorts of things .... from digital clock radios to car stereos to a movie studio to video game consoles. I can't see how a merger wouldn't be overwhelming and cause a big disruption?
I have to think this rumor got started when people started reading the interview with Apple's former CEO, John Sculley, that was done in preparation for the "Game Changers" episode on Jobs that aired on Bloomberg TV.
He described how Steve Jobs had always admired Sony and even scheduled a visit to their factory one time, where he was intrigued by such things as the plant giving workers different colored shirts depending on their job function. (We can see that idea was re-used in the Apple retail stores, years later.) And as I recall, Apple even contracted Sony to build one of their early Powerbook Duo machines for them, many years ago.
He explained how Sony had the same idea Jobs had, that style was just as important as the guts of the product. But as things transitioned from analog to digital, Sony faltered. (EG. The iPod should have really been something Sony created, since they invented the Walkman and all. But instead, Apple did it -- because Sony was struggling at that point to re-invent things for a digital world.)
All of this helps tie the two companies together, so you can follow the logic behind Apple's rumored interest in acquiring them. But realistically, I don't think it would be wise on Apple's part. Apple is so focused on a relatively small number of products. They focus on one area at a time, basically, and only release something when they think it's ready. Sony, by contrast, has their hands in all sorts of things .... from digital clock radios to car stereos to a movie studio to video game consoles. I can't see how a merger wouldn't be overwhelming and cause a big disruption?
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A293 Safari/6531.22.7)
I think it would be a great move. The iPhone is pretty mature and the iPad is close to it. Steve doesn't have much left to revolutionize in the computer/phone space. This gives Steve the power to transform sooo many other industries. Between Sony TVs and Playstation, Apple could get Apple TV into hundreds of millions of home, and transform tv with the app store.
Plus this is a bargain for apple. The playstation brand, all the great game studios, gran turismo, uncharted all the movie studios, music labels, blu ray, the cell, TVs, cameras etc. All that for 30-40 billion is a bargain price and apple could transform those industries very well.
Apple getting influence in all those industries would be a good thing. They would suddenly trounce MS and Google in how many assets they own.
Sony would be apple's lower tier brand for fantastic products that don't quite meet Job's insane standards. This is what Toyota is to Lexus, Honda is to Acura, VW is to Audi and Sony can be to Apple.
I love Sony. I love apple. Sonys tendency to use cutting edge tech combined with apple's aesthetics and user interface would be epic.
I think it would be a great move. The iPhone is pretty mature and the iPad is close to it. Steve doesn't have much left to revolutionize in the computer/phone space. This gives Steve the power to transform sooo many other industries. Between Sony TVs and Playstation, Apple could get Apple TV into hundreds of millions of home, and transform tv with the app store.
Plus this is a bargain for apple. The playstation brand, all the great game studios, gran turismo, uncharted all the movie studios, music labels, blu ray, the cell, TVs, cameras etc. All that for 30-40 billion is a bargain price and apple could transform those industries very well.
Apple getting influence in all those industries would be a good thing. They would suddenly trounce MS and Google in how many assets they own.
Sony would be apple's lower tier brand for fantastic products that don't quite meet Job's insane standards. This is what Toyota is to Lexus, Honda is to Acura, VW is to Audi and Sony can be to Apple.
I love Sony. I love apple. Sonys tendency to use cutting edge tech combined with apple's aesthetics and user interface would be epic.
Yeah at the current price AAPL is not worth it unless you go in and go in largeYou should consider Steam. Its changed the way i use my Mac. Its now my games consoles as im no longer a heavy gamer.
If Apple wanted to get in the Console business or get Blu-Ray into macs then this might be the best way of doing it. I don't see it happening at all though. I agree Netflix is possible. I expect that there will be a new company posted each week though that Apple is supposed to buy
IMO, Steam is soon to be roadkill or at least severely compromised with the Mac App Store coming on line.
I don't see this happening.
ONly bonus I can see is owning content. This means more of the stuff on iTunes and ATV. One less major content provider to negotiate with. More ability to make the products they want to when you automatically will have a ton of content on the devices.
overall though it makes more sense for MS to acquire Sony.
ONly bonus I can see is owning content. This means more of the stuff on iTunes and ATV. One less major content provider to negotiate with. More ability to make the products they want to when you automatically will have a ton of content on the devices.
overall though it makes more sense for MS to acquire Sony.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; sv-se) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)
These things do come and go, however, never before in history has a service like this gained that many users.
KnightWRX said:
These things do come and go, however, never before in history has a service like this gained that many users.
They also make very good televisions. I wouldn't buy their phones (I stick to Apple and Nokia) or their Hifi (I have KEF, Marantz and Onkyo; I'll probably move up to Arcam or even Cyrus at one stage unless I'll just keep what I've got and I like anyway).
Their AV range has some cracking units (probably one of the very few brands that I would replace my ageing Pioneer separates with).
Their camcorders are also very popular (I prefer Panasonic) and they make professional video equipment.
They make fantastic alarm clocks and their newer offerings with iPod connectors are not bad at all (my girlfriend likes hers).
Their computers look decent, although I never understood pink as a colour option, and the finish and the materials could be better (here, I stay with Apple until I get absolutely sick of them and decide that I don't want any more OS X).
Sony ebook readers are some of the best (I love my new Kindle).
Their new DSLRs proved to be a hit (I haven't bought a Nikon yet, so I'll just wait until I'll really need the Canon that I really want).
Their cheaper cameras look great and make decent pictures.
I've had a few cars with their stereos, they sound good, have an understated look and offer good options and functionality (although, I prefer Alpine or Pioneer).
Playstation - need I say more? (Actually, yes. I like Lux Delux on my Macs sometimes
).Digital picture frames, all sorts of gadgets - they are so popular and they are excellent gifts (I take anything from them as a gift, thank you very much in advance).
And this is just most consumer products and the professional video camera range. Sony has other interests too in media and electronics. It has its revenue sorted in a much more secure way than Apple, I would think.
Your comment is ugly. Fail.