Speculation of an Apple Acquisition Drives Sony's Stock Price Up

[z4n3]

Sony - Not going to happen
Disney - Not going to happen
EA - Not going to happen
Adobe - Hell will freeze over first


My personal wish list

The foundry - great tech and software and pocket change for Apple
Red - great tech and software
Samsung - Amazing TV tech and very Apple (UE55C9000 55" LED

 

[OllyW]

Rather ambiguous metric to compare sales to, don't you think? First, they are comparing $10-30 purchases w/ electronics that are multiples times more expensive. Second, the interval one buys a TV, BD player, iPod, etc. is much further spread out than consumable media. Third, the cost to produce, market, and distribute a BD movie is a couple bucks, leaving for a profit margin around 25-30%. The typical profit margin in hard electronics is 10%

It's comparing Blu-ray sales to electronic downloads not electronic devices.

But the key metric the article fails to compare to is streaming video rentals and purchases. I never said BD is dead, I said it was a dead format walking. It will live on for a while, most Sony formats do -- see Memory Sticks or MiniDisks. But the future is no BD, it's streaming. It's why Netflix just made a $115m investment to boost capacity, it's why Apple just build it's NC facility, it's why Hulu is so popular. It's why Google is getting in the biz. It's why so many companies are jockeying to have THE streaming set top box consumer want.

This article linked from that piece I posted gives you the breakdown for download sales and rentals / video on demand.

 

[KnightWRX]

Samsung - Amazing TV tech and very Apple (UE55C9000 55" LED

Yeah, can't wait for the Apple fridge, the Apple convection oven, etc...

Asian companies in general are bad acquisitions for Apple. American corporations tend to be very market centric, Asian companies branch out to many different, unrelated markets.

 

[ericinboston]

The huge upsurge in streaming popularity and wide interest in companies to support it show that most consumers are not that committed to 1080p. Even 1.5mbps DSL will support 720p. Also the TV is no longer the only place people choose to watch movies and TV shows. People happily watch on small screens: computers, iPods, iPads, etc. where 1080p is overkill.

As I mentions, BD will become a videophile format for those that do care about 1080p. The real restraint on streaming right now is not bandwidth, it's content. As soon as studios open up their catalogs BD will be an also-ran format. The era of physical media will be over.

Chupa...I (very politely) have to totally disagree with you...and agree with Samwise.

What you are talking about is the theoretical "can it be done". Sure, if every human disconnected from the internet from 7pm-9pm and only allowed you to stream your movie, sure, it would likely work.

The reality is that the internet connections are far TOO SLOW for any kind of reliable, 100% uptime streaming. I am assuming you've been to Youtube. I would guess that 70% of the time I go there and view any kind of video that is longer than 40 seconds I receive buffering problems. And I'm on a 25Mbit downstream connection and hard wired to my router. I also have 4 computers, an iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch...they all have the same problems with most Youtube videos. And this is not just a problem for me...same thing happens while at the office or my relative's homes. And having a 25Mbit downstream connection is definitely not the norm...most likely people have an average of 5-8Mbit downstream plan and how much of that speed/throughput truly arrives at their computer? 1Mbit on average?

As Samwise stated (and not to get too off topic here)...the entire technical infrastructure for any kind of true streaming (not to mention 1080 quality...after all...why the heck would you want to stream SD or watered down 720 these days?) needs to be overhauled. ISPs need to offer killer connection speeds that are reliable and dependable...the broadcasting company(s) will need huge data centers with massive massive massive pipes that can handle 300million (USA population) users concurrently connecting to watch their shows/movies/programming for "streaming". The earth's population is over 6 billion...and I'm sure the movie studios are going to want a piece of that pie...so trying to push/stream content to say 1 billion people on the planet is not an easy task. Remember, the cable companies' infrastructure wasn't born in a day...and even their HD programming quality today stinks (in my opinion).

Streaming video has been promised and advertised for at least 10 years...it's nowhere close to being here in any kind of mainstream fashion.

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.

Let's not also forget all the streaming FAQs that nobody seems to answer...such as ownership, licensing, "accounts", etc. Humans like tangible objects which is why so many "formats" have survived since the early 1900s with vinyl. Giving up tangible property is a big problem for a lot of people (including me) who fear (for various and numerous reasons) I will pay through the nose and/or not truly "own" what I purchase.

 

[dlewis23]

Facebook I could see. But Sony? Hell no...

 

[mrdice87]

They could buy a 25% stake in Google itself with that much cash

 

[JGowan]

Apple should buy Dell!

 

[Carniphage]

If they didnt the market would kill them off, correct?

Sony console itself may not make money, but the accessories, games, advertising, DL content etc does.

Nope.

MS is running at about break-even with the 360. Unfortunately this does nothing to fill-in the giant money pit that was created the first XBox.

PS3 has lost money throughout its lifetime. Sony thinks that after 10 years it might break even. It simply can't afford to drop it.

PS1 and PS2 did make money, but the business has changed a bit since then.
The cost of game production has risen. The revenues, not so much.

C.

 

[Vulpinemac]

Why would they do that? Apple arguably makes better computers, phones and music players. So whats the benefit? Home entertainment systems, Sony Music? or Games consoles?

I call BS. I don't see the fit.

The fit would be gaining Sony's engineering and manufacturing capabilities. Since Apple has moved manufacturing to China, they've had too many issues with both quality and personnel.

I really doubt they plan on doing this.

Personally, I agree. But then, Apple's been known to make some very odd acquisitions that end up resulting in very different products than expected.

Apples technology integrated in Sonys home entertainment solutions.

*great*

A possibility, but I believe Sony is simply too generic--has much too broad a product line to suit Apple. Sony puts out a dozen different products in each line where Apple limits itself to four, on average. If Apple bought Sony, you'd see them pare down almost 75% of their marginally-different designs in order to make the remaining ones better and to truly differentiate between models. It would mean Sony could return to the Quality brand they used to be rather than the commodity brand they are now.

EA, Netflix, and Adobe I can see as plausible but the other ones not even. EA for games, Netflix for streaming, and Adobe for its technology. What possible reason would Apple need to own Disney for?

I could agree with you on Ea, Netflix and Adobe, but you have to consider that Steve Jobs is already the majority shareholder of Disney--he effectively already owns it.

 

[baleensavage]

Apple has shown over the years that they are not interested in absorbing their competitors through acquisitions. They buy smaller upstarts with something they need so as to own their own supply chains which keeps profit margins high. Look at the recent purchases, they purchased a chip maker so they could make their own chips, a map company so they could be less reliant on Google, a server farm so they can develop a cloud computing service. If anything we'll see Apple buy up some of the touch screen and LCD manufacturers or even a Flash memory manufacturer. Either that or some small upstart with a few innovative patents. There is no way in hell Apple would waste their money buying Sony.

 

[KnightWRX]

Facebook I could see.

Yeah, buying fads that live or die on the whims of teenagers is a good idea. Why that guy who bought MySpace for a couple of billions is sure happy with his purchase!

 

[Carniphage]

We have had iTunes film downloads for a while now though yet i am still limited by download caps. I dont see this changing anytime soon

I just got a 40Mb connection.
It takes about 10 mins to download 50 mins of TV.

Like satellite, to be viable, Internet TV does not have to reach everyone.

C.

 

[Carniphage]

Yeah, buying fads that live or die on the whims of teenagers is a good idea. Why that guy who bought MySpace for a couple of billions is sure happy with his purchase!

Oh crap. We agree on something!

C.

 

[tigress666]

Apple has shown over the years that they are not interested in absorbing their competitors through acquisitions. They buy smaller upstarts with something they need so as to own their own supply chains which keeps profit margins high. Look at the recent purchases, they purchased a chip maker so they could make their own chips, a map company so they could be less reliant on Google, a server farm so they can develop a cloud computing service. If anything we'll see Apple buy up some of the touch screen and LCD manufacturers or even a Flash memory manufacturer. Either that or some small upstart with a few innovative patents. There is no way in hell Apple would waste their money buying Sony.

Not that I've read the whole thread (skipped a lot of the middle) but this is probably the comment I read that makes the most sense looking at Apple's past history with purchasing. It just doesn't seem like Sony would be the kind of thing Apple would be interested in.

 

[dgree03]

Yeah, buying fads that live or die on the whims of teenagers is a good idea. Why that guy who bought MySpace for a couple of billions is sure happy with his purchase!

I tend to agree with you on most things, but this is a ridiculous assumption.

Myspace could only DREAM of sniffing where facebook is at today.

Facebook user base is 500million! FIVE HUNDRED MILLION.

It gets more hits per day than Google.

I am not saying that its a good idea for apple to buy facebook. I am just pointing out, facebook is far from a fad. FAAAAAR from it.

 

[sbrhwkp3]

It makes perfect sense for Apple.

The Apple TV will no longer be a box. It'll be a real TV.

Their TV's will run iOS.

They'll have a gaming console to play with.

And in the meantime, they'll wipe a PC maker off the map.

How is this not win win win win for Apple?

 

[KnightWRX]

I tend to agree with you on most things, but this is a ridiculous assumption.

Myspace could only DREAM of sniffing where facebook is at today.

Facebook user base is 500million! FIVE HUNDRED MILLION.

It gets more hits per day than Google.

I am not saying that its a good idea for apple to buy facebook. I am just pointing out, facebook is far from a fad. FAAAAAR from it.

Let's talk in a few years. I've seen them come and go in the last 15 years.

 

[OasisNYK]

What a way to ruin a great company (Apple) very quickly.

This is the MSFT model, growth by acquisition and it has turned them into a large holding company that doesn't innovate. I think Apple may have been alluding to strategic acquisitions on a smaller scale - I dont see them picking up a company with $33 bln in market cap that has been poorly run and has its arms in so many different industries.

Does Sony sell cool stuff? Sure - but I dont see why Apple would want to try get involved with them. Not to mention Sony is a Japanese company, totally different culture.

 

[lazyrighteye]

No. Way.

There is zero chance of Apple acquiring Sony.
None.
Nada.
Zilch.

If they do acquire Sony, I'll personally buy every unique member of this thread, up to the point of this posting, a brand new iPod shuffle.*

*Some restrictions apply. For more details, visit http://www.apple.com/ipod/shuffle/offer/null/sorry.htm

 

[SiPat]

I haven't read all the comments and don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but:

Was it only last decade that there was talk of Sony taking over Apple?

 

[backdraft]

TheFoundry (Nuke, Mari) would be awesome along with Side Effects Software (Houdini)! Node based software is the way to go! Imagine the production suite they could put together. drooool...

I wouldn't mind RED and Adobe either, Assimilate Inc (Scratch) looks good too.

Sony - Not going to happen
Disney - Not going to happen
EA - Not going to happen
Adobe - Hell will freeze over first


My personal wish list

The foundry - great tech and software and pocket change for Apple
Red - great tech and software
Samsung - Amazing TV tech and very Apple (UE55C9000 55" LED

 

[gathart]

Why not devide it among the shareholders.... or lower the prices

I could retire early.....

 

[dgree03]

Let's talk in a few years. I've seen them come and go in the last 15 years.

And as ANY been as big as facebook? Even close to it?

Biggest consumer product market right now is arguably Smart phones/modile technologies.

When companies explain features, apps, etc for those platforms what is the most common denominator between them. Yes, Facebook.

Ping is trying to intergrate with who? Facbook
Find any article on the web, and what is at the bottom? facebook connect.

I am sorry, but unless you can say that you have seen a social company THAT intergrated fail. I will have to dismiss this post or any post you have about that. It is simply wrong.

I could say apple is a FAD too, so it will fail. but its just as wrong, isnt it?

 

[AAPLaday]

I just got a 40Mb connection.
It takes about 10 mins to download 50 mins of TV.

Like satellite, to be viable, Internet TV does not have to reach everyone.

C.

The more people that can use it the more money it will make. The Uk is one of the worst countries in terms of broadband speeds. I think 2 meg is the average a survey found. Even people on fast connection suffer from massive speed drops at peak times. Streaming is hardly ideal at the moment with 720p content let alone full HD.

 

[ivladster]

isn't sony bigger than apple??

Well you can't just ask that question, they are two completely different fields. Apple doesn't make TVs or Game Consoles. In computers, Apple makes much more revenue than Sony, apple outsells all of their music devices and totally control music industry. So I think in those fields, no, sony is not bigger than apple.