Wow. I missed that little rumor. Any substantial link to support this? Thanks, mel.
No one seems to have that. There are online articles, but nothing with any evidence. But several business columnists, as well as some from both industries have come out with this. It seems to have started with a column by Mark Veverka in Barron's. What is being said, and there is certainly at least partial truth to it, that as soon as Jobs gets his seat on the board, Apple might make a bid.
The reasoning seems to be something like this.
Disney's price now is seriously discounted, which it is. Apple's price is high, though not as high as it was recently.
Disney has plenty of content. and it's the kind of family content that Apple also plays to. Disney also has the kids, the school age ones that mom and dad buy computers and software for.
Roy Disney Jr. and others close to the company have been promoting Jobs as head honcho for Disney for years as well.
So far so good.
But, times have changed. Apple sells millions of iPods. They need content from everyone these days. Tied up with disney would strain those other, sometimes difficult relationships even more. Apple is doing better among the school age set, and among their moms and dads too.
Disney has a new leader who fits in much better with what Disney needs than Eisner did in his last few years. Disney got what it needed with Pixar.
Can Jobs run a company as complex as an Apple/Disney would be? could he give it his full attention?
Would he really want to?
Also, Apple is in the middle of a very delicate change with Intel chips and software. It's a balancing act that must have all of the attention of its top management. Apple can't afford to get involved with a merger of this proportion. Certainly not now.
Lastly. Apple is a VERY conservative company when it comes to finances. They don't fiddle the books, not even a little. No debt. This is important to Apple. They turned down a possibility to bid on Scientific Atlanta, which would have given them a monster foothold into people's homes, but didn't take it.
While we've been surprised before. I just don't see this. Certainly, not now.
- mail, backup, user folders, and homepage/iWeb content is separated making things quicker.
- iCal gets a server version (i.e. Exchange) or anyone with a standards based calendar application can subscribe to a .mac user's calendar similar to how photocasting works with any browser with RSS capabilities. Vista is supposed to have a stand-alone calendar that uses the same format as iCal does so maybe Vista users can get a .mac account and publish there MS calendar to their account.
iTunes
- iTunes songs go from 128kbps to 160kbps VBR or even 192kbps VBR.
- Can purchase/rent/"on demand" movies
The only other things I can think of that do not exist yet for the public is an iPhone or PDA/Blackberry type of device
Comments
Originally posted by melgross
[B]"If Apple is going to buy Disney, as the pundits are now saying,..."
Wow. I missed that little rumor. Any substantial link to support this? Thanks, mel.
Originally posted by SpamSandwich
Wow. I missed that little rumor. Any substantial link to support this? Thanks, mel.
No one seems to have that. There are online articles, but nothing with any evidence. But several business columnists, as well as some from both industries have come out with this. It seems to have started with a column by Mark Veverka in Barron's. What is being said, and there is certainly at least partial truth to it, that as soon as Jobs gets his seat on the board, Apple might make a bid.
The reasoning seems to be something like this.
Disney's price now is seriously discounted, which it is. Apple's price is high, though not as high as it was recently.
Disney has plenty of content. and it's the kind of family content that Apple also plays to. Disney also has the kids, the school age ones that mom and dad buy computers and software for.
Roy Disney Jr. and others close to the company have been promoting Jobs as head honcho for Disney for years as well.
So far so good.
But, times have changed. Apple sells millions of iPods. They need content from everyone these days. Tied up with disney would strain those other, sometimes difficult relationships even more. Apple is doing better among the school age set, and among their moms and dads too.
Disney has a new leader who fits in much better with what Disney needs than Eisner did in his last few years. Disney got what it needed with Pixar.
Can Jobs run a company as complex as an Apple/Disney would be? could he give it his full attention?
Would he really want to?
Also, Apple is in the middle of a very delicate change with Intel chips and software. It's a balancing act that must have all of the attention of its top management. Apple can't afford to get involved with a merger of this proportion. Certainly not now.
Lastly. Apple is a VERY conservative company when it comes to finances. They don't fiddle the books, not even a little. No debt. This is important to Apple. They turned down a possibility to bid on Scientific Atlanta, which would have given them a monster foothold into people's homes, but didn't take it.
While we've been surprised before. I just don't see this. Certainly, not now.
iDisk
- more storage for less money
- higher monthly transfer limit
- mail, backup, user folders, and homepage/iWeb content is separated making things quicker.
- iCal gets a server version (i.e. Exchange) or anyone with a standards based calendar application can subscribe to a .mac user's calendar similar to how photocasting works with any browser with RSS capabilities. Vista is supposed to have a stand-alone calendar that uses the same format as iCal does so maybe Vista users can get a .mac account and publish there MS calendar to their account.
iTunes
- iTunes songs go from 128kbps to 160kbps VBR or even 192kbps VBR.
- Can purchase/rent/"on demand" movies
The only other things I can think of that do not exist yet for the public is an iPhone or PDA/Blackberry type of device