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Yeah, sure. As if shutting down this planet's most unimportant IT company would make ANY sense at all for anybody.

TFTFY

I think the closure of that awful company would be the best thing - people would eventually be forced to migrate to superior everything, and all those awful, mediocre and commodity hardware products their crap runs on could go with them.

BTW, usability and user experience are part of functionality, but don't you dare tell Microsoft that. :D
 
What's the one thing that is really hampering Apple? It is bandwidth, the ability to be the cloud and to allow for the little thin things that Apple wants to push.

Cloud=control.

Obviously there is a need and opportunity in both land and air bandwidth availability and speed.

Of course, this goes far beyond iTunes and such, hugely important in all areas of society and industry.
 
my brain just exploded. Sony + Apple = Sapple? Apony? :apple:

At first I thought you said Apple's explode. I was then reminded of the whole Exploding battery sony issue.

Insurgents don't need to bother with IEDs when they can buy stylish macbooks to blow up instead.
 
Apple buy Sony = Never going to happen.

Sony have nothing apple need, TV's - No , i think apple could design a TV if they wanted to, it not like they haven't every designed anything before.

sony is a company thats lost its way, they have nothing that apple needs.

what about AMD ? apple got rid of one master to be screwed by another when they switched to intel, ALL mac updates are dictated by Intel's roadmap, they control the most important thing, performance, if they bought AMD and pulled them out of the PC market on one other than the custom community would really batter an eyelid.

as of Disney, damn thats a hard one, the possibilities are endless, Jobs is on the board so you never know.
 
Apple buy Sony = Never going to happen.

Sony have nothing apple need, TV's - No , i think apple could design a TV if they wanted to, it not like they haven't every designed anything before.

Apparently Sony are now outsourcing their TV Production to Foxconn. Although the panels come from Samsung.

Anyone can do that!

C.
 
So would they do this simply to kill Blu-Ray?? Buy all of Sony?

I'd rather see them acquire Dropbox. Something actually useful that blows away Apple's own offerings as far as sync goes.
 
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.

They make some pretty nice mid to higher-end headphones as well.

Apple is about multimedia with some of their iLife stuff, why not have cameras and video cameras that seamlessly interact with Macbooks and iPhoto software? I'm thinking a Bluetooth device that will transfer your pictures automatically to your PC when it's in close proximity. Of course you'd have to pair your computer to your camera but... it's a thought.
 
How about Apple buys a new BATTERY tech company! Better battery technology is needed everywhere. Actually a completely new type of technology needs to be discovered, and accelerated to market. $51 billion can definitely help with that.:rolleyes:
 
Yep, not to mention that Apple probably can't own a music label after that whole twist with Apple the music label.

More likely, Apple Inc can't start a music label and call it Apple Music. But owning one and calling it something else, wouldn't be an issue for that suit.

it would be a potential issue because of the iTunes store. Folks could scream anti-trust, etc. Or at the least start making major demands to make sure they aren't treated in ways they feel are unfair.
 
This article linked from that piece I posted gives you the breakdown for download sales and rentals / video on demand.

If you want to go from the figures on that press release:

BD media sales: $1B

Digital Dist.: $1.7B

Looks to me like BD has a ways to go if it's going to become the dominant media format and not Betamax. If a format doesn't become dominant it loses support from hardware makers and content companies. I'll stand firm in my belief that in 4-5 years Blu-Ray will be a niche media format. The numbers bear it out. 21m installed units after 4 years in existence isn't really anything to crow about, especially when the many of those units were bought as game consoles, not video players. Take a look at DVD or CD growth in its first 4-5 years.
 
Zero chance this happens, it's ridiculous. Apple is already beating the pants off Sony in every area they're interested in, and Sony has a huge amount of baggage that Apple should have no interest in taking on. Ridiculous rumor. As are the rumors about Disney and Adobe, I could almost see the Adobe one because of the Flash thing (buy + kill), and the fact that Apple doesn't like being dependent on them because of Photoshop, but I still think that's unlikely. I'm sure the regulators would be all over an Adobe acquisition anyway.
 
If you want to go from the figures on that press release:

BD media sales: $1B

Digital Dist.: $1.7B

Looks to me like BD has a ways to go if it's going to become the dominant media format and not Betamax. If a format doesn't become dominant it loses support from hardware makers and content companies. I'll stand firm in my belief that in 4-5 years Blu-Ray will be a niche media format. The numbers bear it out. 21m installed units after 4 years in existence isn't really anything to crow about, especially when the many of those units were bought as game consoles, not video players. Take a look at DVD or CD growth in its first 4-5 years.

Most of the digital distribution is for rentals and video on demand. Blu-ray is more than double the figures for downloads to own. There is room for both on the market, download a low to medium quality version to watch only once, buy the high quality version if it's for keeps.

The 21 million installed units are for only one country, as are all the sales figures stated in that report. ;)

It also wipes the floor with the sales for the Apple TV over the same period, which are estimated at over 6 million worldwide.
 
Sony???

Didn't Steve say that he'd never step foot in Japan again because he couldn't take the throwing stars on his jet?
 
As for Bluray, I don't think it's overkill (as you seem to imply) nor do I think it's a dead format...it will survive very well until 15+ years from now when folks can truly "stream" all their content.

Not a dead format, but a niche format. The sad fact is most people just don't care, they are not videophiles and are just as happy watching compressed 720p streams as Blu-Ray (and < 1% of them would have their monitors properly calibrated for it anyway, they probably choose the horrible "Vivid" preset because it's the brightest).
 
Apparently Sony are now outsourcing their TV Production to Foxconn. Although the panels come from Samsung.

Anyone can do that!

C.

Yes, they are already working on a series featuring the life of assembly workers. There's a lot of drama in it and more suicides than two seasons of Desperate Housewives.
 
If you want to go from the figures on that press release:

BD media sales: $1B

Digital Dist.: $1.7B

Looks to me like BD has a ways to go if it's going to become the dominant media format and not Betamax. If a format doesn't become dominant it loses support from hardware makers and content companies. I'll stand firm in my belief that in 4-5 years Blu-Ray will be a niche media format. The numbers bear it out. 21m installed units after 4 years in existence isn't really anything to crow about, especially when the many of those units were bought as game consoles, not video players. Take a look at DVD or CD growth in its first 4-5 years.

This would be true if Blu-ray STOP increasing market share and revneues. Some analyst say its adoption rate is the same or slightly slower than DVD.

http://tech.blorge.com/Structure: /2009/04/19/blu-ray-on-track-to-taking-over-dvd/
 
No One Is Thinking Here

If Apple buys anything, it will be Disney. Why? Hmmm, let's think.....
1. Disney has tons of content
2. Disney owns ABC, which has tons of content.
3. Disney owns ESPN, which has TONS and TONS of NEW and old content.
4. Jobs is the largest stockholder of Disney, thanks to his PIXAR deal.
5. Remember your history: Jobs leaves Apple. starts NeXT. Apple buys NeXT. Jobs starts PIXAR, then comes back to Apple. Disney buys PIXAR....... Am I the only one who sees the bed-hopping?
 
Yeah, can't wait for the Apple fridge, the Apple convection oven, etc... :rolleyes:

Did not think about that! but now want them to buy Samsung EVEN MORE!! :D a unibody fridge conected to my iPhone and iPad to make food orders on-line, and then see if the roast chicken is done on my AppleTV or via iPad would be soooo cool! :eek:
 
I don't think it will happen, but if it did...

The only thing I can see Apple buying from Sony would be the Playstation business and the music/movie rights. Right now Apple cannot get into the family room - sure, Apple TV is a nice little product, but it's niche and in it's current form it's going to be a bit limited if they enable apps. I can see them possibly marrying the Playstation on the back end with and iOS front end.

This would be the first true "set top box" in my book that would allow people to break away from the cable companies for content.
 
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