If Apple was buying OpenTable and it was started by an African-American rapper this article would be 300 posts deep by now mostly complaining about how Tom Cook should be fired and making racist comments about stereotypical foods.
What did OpenTable make in revenue and profits last year?
Interesting that you're the one that brings this up. So any criticism is just construed as racism? It's untrue and you're better than that Solip. You can prove a point without having to pull a race card. Please call me a racist- I'm married to a 100% Hispanic woman and have two daughters- one biological that is half white/Hispanic and the other is adopted and half black.
The criticism with Beats was that it didn't appear to have much synergy outside of beats music- which turned out to be a much bigger deal than was first suspected. Also an acquihire- which was fine.
But to suggest opentable is dumb because it doesn't have a profit (which they do)- I counter with- How much profit did Siri have? How about any of the dozen map apps apple has acquired over the last few months. Those have synergies. To simply look at revenue and profit is ridiculous. Hell- Phillips probably makes a profit. And they make apple chargers, docks, speakers, and headphones. Why not buy them? They're profitable. Or iHome?
I still think Apple didn't give a rat about beats headphones and is just gonna let that product category sit over in the corner and do whatever they want in the same fashion as FileMaker. They might do something with the earbuds later on, but it likely won't be anything groundbreaking. The headphones are nice to have, but if Beats music, iovine, and dre weren't part of the $3.2b deal, it wouldn't have been bought. Even for 1 billion.
I'll bet we won't see nearly as many articles about whether Priceline spent too much money for OpenTable as Apple spent on Beats or whether Priceline's CEO knows what the hell he's doing. I'm fairly certain Priceline is taking far more risk than Apple did but where's all the second-guessing about this deal. Of course, Priceline gets a free pass unlike Apple because the hedge funds are completely enamored with Priceline. Priceline has about $7 billion cash and is spending $2.6 billion on OpenTable. Apple has $150 billion in cash and spent $3 billion on Beats. So where's all the cries of criticism, anguish and doubts about the Priceline/OpenTable deal. Not a peep. I find the bias against Apple's acquisitions rather absurd and puke-worthy.
I think anytime a publicly traded company spends 40% of their cash- it's insane. You're exactly right, $3b was a drop in the bucket for Apple. If I were a major analyst, I wouldn't have laid that much credence into it, honestly, but as an apple fan- I like to have knowledge and an opinion of every purchase, major or minor. Of course Everyone will have an opinion on Apple- because there is so much love/hate on it. Outside of investors, who gives a rats balls about Priceline? Unless there's a pricelineinsider,com I don't know of
I'm sorry but I would never have Siri make a dinner reservation for me. I wouldn't even THINK to do so.
The mistake they made with Siri is that it could do niche tasks like this before it could do something as simple as open an App on your phone.
They haven't built enough trust in Siri to perform the simple tasks, so advanced tasks like "Make a reservation" or "Buy me tickets" are way out of people's perception of what it can do.
I use it to make reservations on occasion and it works well, the OpenTable CEO sent out an email stating that it would operate independently and function as before.
What surprises me the most about this acquisition is that Priceline has this much money. This is the same as Amazon have a tons of money, all they do is perform a service based on other company's products. In other words, they don't really have anything of true value. Priceline doesn't actually rent any hotel rooms or provide any airline tickets, they merely find a service that sells them for the cheapest. How many middleman services do we need and why do companies pay them so much in advertising to keep them in existence?
I can't wait for the "Name your own price" model to be applied to reservations at higher-end restaurants, where it can be a challenge to get a booking. This will essentially allow the restaurants to auction off the seats, completely separately from the price of the meal. Nifty!
It's expensive but totally complementary to Priceline's business.
All of these services want to become sticky "one app does it all" services. Priceline can book my flight, Car Rental, and Hotel now and in the future they'll be offering me the ability to create reservations for dinner.
Interesting that you're the one that brings this up. So any criticism is just construed as racism? It's untrue and you're better than that Solip. You can prove a point without having to pull a race card. Please call me a racist- I'm married to a 100% Hispanic woman and have two daughters- one biological that is half white/Hispanic and the other is adopted and half black.
Not any criticism but the Beats comments clearly showed that racism was a major factor for many posters.
The criticism with Beats was that it didn't appear to have much synergy outside of beats music- which turned out to be a much bigger deal than was first suspected. Also an acquihire- which was fine.
No problem with having concerns but there is a problem with having concerns because of the color of someone's skin.
But to suggest opentable is dumb because it doesn't have a profit (which they do)- I counter with- ]How much profit did Siri have? How about any of the dozen map apps apple has acquired over the last few months. Those have synergies. To simply look at revenue and profit is ridiculous.
I never suggested such a thing. I even did the same comparison to Siri and other other companies not making a profit when people were saying Beats is worthless.
I still think Apple didn't give a rat about beats headphones and is just gonna let that product category sit over in the corner and do whatever they want in the same fashion as FileMaker. They might do something with the earbuds later on, but it likely won't be anything groundbreaking. The headphones are nice to have, but if Beats music, iovine, and dre weren't part of the $3.2b deal, it wouldn't have been bought. Even for 1 billion.
I think Apple cares very much about Beats's popularity and dominance of the headphone market. I don't see how anyone can think they'd want the 6 month old Beats Music for $3 billion. The numbers simply don't work out. They bought both companies for a reason and I don't think they were strong armed into it.
Not any criticism but the Beats comments clearly showed that racism was a major factor for many posters.
I suspect you are correct, however there could be another circumstantial factor at work in the prejudice of some commenters.
Speaking strictly for myself, I have a negative impression of tatted-up hip-hop-gangster types whether they are black or white. I simply don't trust people like that and clearly that is the genre of music that Dre is into. On the other side of the spectrum I have equal respect for physicians, academics, public servants, and business professionals, etc. of any ethnicity. And by business professionals, I mean people who don't use foul mouthed hateful language as part of their business practices. Dre may be a business executive by some measure but he doesn't qualify by my definition. So perhaps there is a lot of similar sentiment giving cause to many of the negative comments on the Beats acquisition topic.
I suspect you are correct, however there could be another circumstantial factor at work in the prejudice of some commenters.
Speaking strictly for myself, I have a negative impression of tatted-up hip-hop-gangster types whether they are black or white. I simply don't trust people like that and clearly that is the genre of music that Dre is into. On the other side of the spectrum I have equal respect for physicians, academics, public servants, and business professionals, etc. of any ethnicity. And by business professionals, I mean people who don't use foul mouthed hateful language as part of their business practices. Dre may be a business executive by some measure but he doesn't qualify by my definition. So perhaps there is a lot of similar sentiment giving cause to many of the negative comments on the Beats acquisition topic.
I've never heard nor seen Bernie Madoff swear, listen to rap music, or wear hip-hop clothing, and since he's a business man does that make him a decent person?
I don't think having tattoos or being gay or of a certain religion or from a particular culture or economic class makes you any less moral or worse for the growth of a productive society.
I'm sorry but I would never have Siri make a dinner reservation for me. I wouldn't even THINK to do so.
The mistake they made with Siri is that it could do niche tasks like this before it could do something as simple as open an App on your phone.
They haven't built enough trust in Siri to perform the simple tasks, so advanced tasks like "Make a reservation" or "Buy me tickets" are way out of people's perception of what it can do.
you should try it before you knock it. Siri doesnt just make the rez in the background -- it brings up a prompt and you confirm it in the OpenTable table app, similar to confirming a text. its pretty simple, really.
Interesting that you're the one that brings this up. So any criticism is just construed as racism? It's untrue and you're better than that Solip. You can prove a point without having to pull a race card. Please call me a racist- I'm married to a 100% Hispanic woman and have two daughters- one biological that is half white/Hispanic and the other is adopted and half black.
youre making a strawman argument -- suggesting Solip said YOU made racist statements. he didnt say that. he said PEOPLE criticized the deal and made racist statements -- and they did. i read and argued w/ commenters on The Loop who said "what's next, a Glock w/ every headset?" etc... thats racism. because, you know, black consumers arent really all gangbanging thugs.
I've never heard nor seen Bernie Madoff swear, listen to rap music, or wear hip-hop clothing, and since he's a business man does that make him a decent person?
I don't think having tattoos or being gay or of a certain religion or from a particular culture or economic class makes you any less moral or worse for the growth of a productive society.
Good point about Madoff, but there is a reason why you don't see many hip-hop-gangster types in professional careers. I think it is because they appear untrustworthy and dangerous. Granted Madoff stole more money than all the gangsters combined but the gangster look, for some reason, just doesn't give people the impression of trust, and for me the distrust has nothing to do with race. I get the same exact impression from white Hell's Angel types.
Good point about Madoff, but there is a reason why you don't see many hip-hop-gangster types in professional careers. I think it is because they appear untrustworthy and dangerous. Granted Madoff stole more money than all the gangsters combined but the gangster look, for some reason, just doesn't give people the impression of trust, and for me the distrust has nothing to do with race.
You're not alone, but you're falsely attributing the culturally accepted attire and dress to an invalid notion of an individual's character. If Andre Young hasn't proven himself at this point to be both a successful entertainer and businessman I don't know what else to show to convince you otherwise but I will leave you with this idea (which I believe was from Robert X. Cringely's Triumph of the Nerds documentary) that Steve Jobs would negatively judge interviewees if they came in looking like they worked for IBM.
edit: It was a scene from Pirates of Silicon Valley. No idea on its authenticity but the point stands.
You're not alone, but you're falsely attributing the culturally accepted attire and dress to an invalid notion of an individual's character. If Andre Young hasn't proven himself at this point to be both a successful entertainer and businessman I don't know what else to show to convince you otherwise but I will leave you with this idea (which I believe was from Robert X. Cringely's Triumph of the Nerds documentary) that Steve Jobs would negatively judge interviewees if they came in looking like they worked for IBM.
I wouldn't go so far as to say the hip-hop-gangster look is a culturally accepted norm, except perhaps among inmates. That is the origin of the style and it was adopted by gang members as a way to make others fear them. And that is the general impression that non-gangster style main stream society views them as.
Not any criticism but the Beats comments clearly showed that racism was a major factor for many posters.
I suspect you are correct, however there could be another circumstantial factor at work in the prejudice of some commenters.
Speaking strictly for myself, I have a negative impression of tatted-up hip-hop-gangster types whether they are black or white. I simply don't trust people like that and clearly that is the genre of music that Dre is into. On the other side of the spectrum I have equal respect for physicians, academics, public servants, and business professionals, etc. of any ethnicity. And by business professionals, I mean people who don't use foul mouthed hateful language as part of their business practices. Dre may be a business executive by some measure but he doesn't qualify by my definition. So perhaps there is a lot of similar sentiment giving cause to many of the negative comments on the Beats acquisition topic.
Precisely.
It's just too easy to play the race card, as SolipsismX does. M&M is a famous white rapper, whose music and culture I find just as abhorrent as Dr. Dre's. Thuggishness is no respecter of race.
Gangster culture is intrinsically bad and should be destroyed for ever.
I wouldn't go so far as to say the hip-hop-gangster look is a culturally accepted norm, except perhaps among inmates. That is the origin of the style and it was adopted by gang members as a way to make others fear them. And that is the general impression that non-gangster style main stream society views them as.
1) Are you kidding? There are excessively large and profitable product lines that cater to that specific attire and look. Not being your norm is the same as not being a norm.
2) Are you kidding?! Inmates!!!!! You see a pic of Dr. Dre or Sean Combs or Beyonce and think they look like they belong behind bars? That's some whack shit!
3) You think $200 Nike Air Jordons were adopted by gang members as a way to make others fear them? You think that a gold chain (going back to the earl 80s) as a way to display wealth is to make other inmates fear them? You think that a puffy Sean John winter coat is way to make others fear them? HOW THE HELL ARE THEY GETTING THESE INTO THE PRISONS AND WHY WOULD ONE BE SCARED OF $200 SHOES?
4) Again, your general impression has an extreme bias with no sense of the reality of cultural trends.
M&M is a famous white rapper, whose music and culture I find just as abhorrent as Dr. Dre's. Thuggishness is no respecter of race.
That's perfectly reasonable and not racist until you start making stupid claims like "All my black friends agree with me that rap isn't music and if you're not black you can't judge rap like they can."
Gangster culture is intrinsically bad and should be destroyed for ever.
Define this gangster culture? Listening to rap music?
Are you kidding?! Inmates!!!!! You see a pic of Dr. Dre or Sean Combs or Beyonce and think they look like they belong behind bars? That's some whack shit!
Not that I know who Sean Combs is but certainly not Beyonce. As far as Dre is concerned I have seen pictures of him where he looks like a frat boy and I don't know if he even has a tattoo but my original reference was to the type of music he produces which seems to exclusively support the gangster mode.
Not that I know who Sean Combs is but certainly not Beyonce. As far as Dre is concerned I have seen pictures of him where he looks like a frat boy and I don't know if he even has a tattoo but my original reference was to the type of music he produces which seems to exclusively support the gangster mode.
And what "mode" did Elvis and Johnny Cash promote? Every generation there are is a minority of people that are shocked by the natural changes in music despite the clarity in which the new has grown out of the old. I suspect there is some mental condition, perhaps similar to how it's harder to learn a language as your older when many get to a certain age the music (and culture which is highly associated with music) gets locked into place making it very difficult for certain people to even see how other music and attire can be appealing. I bet if you take someone from Wall Street today and put them in 17th century France they will look comical without the wigs and frilly garb.
PS: Tim Roth is the best villain ever in Rob Roy… despite his "professional' and "respectable" attire.
You think $200 Nike Air Jordons were adopted by gang members as a way to make others fear them? You think that a gold chain (going back to the earl 80s) as a way to display wealth is to make other inmates fear them? You think that a puffy Sean John winter coat is way to make others fear them? HOW THE HELL ARE THEY GETTING THESE INTO THE PRISONS AND WHY WOULD ONE BE SCARED OF $200 SHOES?
That is where the unlaced shoes and the baggy falling down pants style came from as well because inmates aren't allowed to have shoe laces or belts. The gold chains are a nod to the 70s pimp style. In almost every case the whole gangster look can be attributed to celebrating criminals.
Comments
Interesting that you're the one that brings this up. So any criticism is just construed as racism? It's untrue and you're better than that Solip. You can prove a point without having to pull a race card. Please call me a racist- I'm married to a 100% Hispanic woman and have two daughters- one biological that is half white/Hispanic and the other is adopted and half black.
The criticism with Beats was that it didn't appear to have much synergy outside of beats music- which turned out to be a much bigger deal than was first suspected. Also an acquihire- which was fine.
But to suggest opentable is dumb because it doesn't have a profit (which they do)- I counter with- How much profit did Siri have? How about any of the dozen map apps apple has acquired over the last few months. Those have synergies. To simply look at revenue and profit is ridiculous. Hell- Phillips probably makes a profit. And they make apple chargers, docks, speakers, and headphones. Why not buy them? They're profitable. Or iHome?
I still think Apple didn't give a rat about beats headphones and is just gonna let that product category sit over in the corner and do whatever they want in the same fashion as FileMaker. They might do something with the earbuds later on, but it likely won't be anything groundbreaking. The headphones are nice to have, but if Beats music, iovine, and dre weren't part of the $3.2b deal, it wouldn't have been bought. Even for 1 billion.
I think anytime a publicly traded company spends 40% of their cash- it's insane. You're exactly right, $3b was a drop in the bucket for Apple. If I were a major analyst, I wouldn't have laid that much credence into it, honestly, but as an apple fan- I like to have knowledge and an opinion of every purchase, major or minor. Of course Everyone will have an opinion on Apple- because there is so much love/hate on it. Outside of investors, who gives a rats balls about Priceline? Unless there's a pricelineinsider,com I don't know of
I'm sorry but I would never have Siri make a dinner reservation for me. I wouldn't even THINK to do so.
The mistake they made with Siri is that it could do niche tasks like this before it could do something as simple as open an App on your phone.
They haven't built enough trust in Siri to perform the simple tasks, so advanced tasks like "Make a reservation" or "Buy me tickets" are way out of people's perception of what it can do.
I use it to make reservations on occasion and it works well, the OpenTable CEO sent out an email stating that it would operate independently and function as before.
What surprises me the most about this acquisition is that Priceline has this much money. This is the same as Amazon have a tons of money, all they do is perform a service based on other company's products. In other words, they don't really have anything of true value. Priceline doesn't actually rent any hotel rooms or provide any airline tickets, they merely find a service that sells them for the cheapest. How many middleman services do we need and why do companies pay them so much in advertising to keep them in existence?
My first reaction as well.
I can't wait for the "Name your own price" model to be applied to reservations at higher-end restaurants, where it can be a challenge to get a booking. This will essentially allow the restaurants to auction off the seats, completely separately from the price of the meal. Nifty!
It's expensive but totally complementary to Priceline's business.
All of these services want to become sticky "one app does it all" services. Priceline can book my flight, Car Rental, and Hotel now and in the future they'll be offering me the ability to create reservations for dinner.
Not any criticism but the Beats comments clearly showed that racism was a major factor for many posters.
No problem with having concerns but there is a problem with having concerns because of the color of someone's skin.
I never suggested such a thing. I even did the same comparison to Siri and other other companies not making a profit when people were saying Beats is worthless.
I think Apple cares very much about Beats's popularity and dominance of the headphone market. I don't see how anyone can think they'd want the 6 month old Beats Music for $3 billion. The numbers simply don't work out. They bought both companies for a reason and I don't think they were strong armed into it.
I suspect you are correct, however there could be another circumstantial factor at work in the prejudice of some commenters.
Speaking strictly for myself, I have a negative impression of tatted-up hip-hop-gangster types whether they are black or white. I simply don't trust people like that and clearly that is the genre of music that Dre is into. On the other side of the spectrum I have equal respect for physicians, academics, public servants, and business professionals, etc. of any ethnicity. And by business professionals, I mean people who don't use foul mouthed hateful language as part of their business practices. Dre may be a business executive by some measure but he doesn't qualify by my definition. So perhaps there is a lot of similar sentiment giving cause to many of the negative comments on the Beats acquisition topic.
I've never heard nor seen Bernie Madoff swear, listen to rap music, or wear hip-hop clothing, and since he's a business man does that make him a decent person?
I don't think having tattoos or being gay or of a certain religion or from a particular culture or economic class makes you any less moral or worse for the growth of a productive society.
I'm sorry but I would never have Siri make a dinner reservation for me. I wouldn't even THINK to do so.
The mistake they made with Siri is that it could do niche tasks like this before it could do something as simple as open an App on your phone.
They haven't built enough trust in Siri to perform the simple tasks, so advanced tasks like "Make a reservation" or "Buy me tickets" are way out of people's perception of what it can do.
you should try it before you knock it. Siri doesnt just make the rez in the background -- it brings up a prompt and you confirm it in the OpenTable table app, similar to confirming a text. its pretty simple, really.
Interesting that you're the one that brings this up. So any criticism is just construed as racism? It's untrue and you're better than that Solip. You can prove a point without having to pull a race card. Please call me a racist- I'm married to a 100% Hispanic woman and have two daughters- one biological that is half white/Hispanic and the other is adopted and half black.
youre making a strawman argument -- suggesting Solip said YOU made racist statements. he didnt say that. he said PEOPLE criticized the deal and made racist statements -- and they did. i read and argued w/ commenters on The Loop who said "what's next, a Glock w/ every headset?" etc... thats racism. because, you know, black consumers arent really all gangbanging thugs.
I don't think having tattoos or being gay or of a certain religion or from a particular culture or economic class makes you any less moral or worse for the growth of a productive society.
Good point about Madoff, but there is a reason why you don't see many hip-hop-gangster types in professional careers. I think it is because they appear untrustworthy and dangerous. Granted Madoff stole more money than all the gangsters combined but the gangster look, for some reason, just doesn't give people the impression of trust, and for me the distrust has nothing to do with race. I get the same exact impression from white Hell's Angel types.
You're not alone, but you're falsely attributing the culturally accepted attire and dress to an invalid notion of an individual's character. If Andre Young hasn't proven himself at this point to be both a successful entertainer and businessman I don't know what else to show to convince you otherwise but I will leave you with this idea (which I believe was from Robert X. Cringely's Triumph of the Nerds documentary) that Steve Jobs would negatively judge interviewees if they came in looking like they worked for IBM.
edit: It was a scene from Pirates of Silicon Valley. No idea on its authenticity but the point stands.
You're not alone, but you're falsely attributing the culturally accepted attire and dress to an invalid notion of an individual's character. If Andre Young hasn't proven himself at this point to be both a successful entertainer and businessman I don't know what else to show to convince you otherwise but I will leave you with this idea (which I believe was from Robert X. Cringely's Triumph of the Nerds documentary) that Steve Jobs would negatively judge interviewees if they came in looking like they worked for IBM.
I wouldn't go so far as to say the hip-hop-gangster look is a culturally accepted norm, except perhaps among inmates. That is the origin of the style and it was adopted by gang members as a way to make others fear them. And that is the general impression that non-gangster style main stream society views them as.
I suspect you are correct, however there could be another circumstantial factor at work in the prejudice of some commenters.
Speaking strictly for myself, I have a negative impression of tatted-up hip-hop-gangster types whether they are black or white. I simply don't trust people like that and clearly that is the genre of music that Dre is into. On the other side of the spectrum I have equal respect for physicians, academics, public servants, and business professionals, etc. of any ethnicity. And by business professionals, I mean people who don't use foul mouthed hateful language as part of their business practices. Dre may be a business executive by some measure but he doesn't qualify by my definition. So perhaps there is a lot of similar sentiment giving cause to many of the negative comments on the Beats acquisition topic.
Precisely.
It's just too easy to play the race card, as SolipsismX does. M&M is a famous white rapper, whose music and culture I find just as abhorrent as Dr. Dre's. Thuggishness is no respecter of race.
Gangster culture is intrinsically bad and should be destroyed for ever.
1) Are you kidding? There are excessively large and profitable product lines that cater to that specific attire and look. Not being your norm is the same as not being a norm.
2) Are you kidding?! Inmates!!!!! You see a pic of Dr. Dre or Sean Combs or Beyonce and think they look like they belong behind bars? That's some whack shit!
3) You think $200 Nike Air Jordons were adopted by gang members as a way to make others fear them? You think that a gold chain (going back to the earl 80s) as a way to display wealth is to make other inmates fear them? You think that a puffy Sean John winter coat is way to make others fear them? HOW THE HELL ARE THEY GETTING THESE INTO THE PRISONS AND WHY WOULD ONE BE SCARED OF $200 SHOES?
4) Again, your general impression has an extreme bias with no sense of the reality of cultural trends.
That's perfectly reasonable and not racist until you start making stupid claims like "All my black friends agree with me that rap isn't music and if you're not black you can't judge rap like they can."
Define this gangster culture? Listening to rap music?
Not that I know who Sean Combs is but certainly not Beyonce. As far as Dre is concerned I have seen pictures of him where he looks like a frat boy and I don't know if he even has a tattoo but my original reference was to the type of music he produces which seems to exclusively support the gangster mode.
And what "mode" did Elvis and Johnny Cash promote? Every generation there are is a minority of people that are shocked by the natural changes in music despite the clarity in which the new has grown out of the old. I suspect there is some mental condition, perhaps similar to how it's harder to learn a language as your older when many get to a certain age the music (and culture which is highly associated with music) gets locked into place making it very difficult for certain people to even see how other music and attire can be appealing. I bet if you take someone from Wall Street today and put them in 17th century France they will look comical without the wigs and frilly garb.
PS: Tim Roth is the best villain ever in Rob Roy… despite his "professional' and "respectable" attire.
That is where the unlaced shoes and the baggy falling down pants style came from as well because inmates aren't allowed to have shoe laces or belts. The gold chains are a nod to the 70s pimp style. In almost every case the whole gangster look can be attributed to celebrating criminals.