Apple stock hits record high on iTunes-Google rumor

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
Shares of Apple Computer set an all-time high on Friday following a disappointing report from Dell and amid rumors of an iTunes partnership with Google.



According to a report on TheStreet.com, rumors are abound that Apple is set to announce a deal with Google that would allow the search giant to offer a version of Apple's iTunes music store through its search site.



Such a deal would effectively pair the nation's leading online music store with its leading search engine, exposing legal music download options to the broadest of internet audiences.



An Apple spokesperson declined to comment on the report, citing a company policy of not commenting on "rumors and speculation."



The two companies have already partnered to promote their services on a smaller scale, offering Apple iTunes-signed labels a discount on Google's Adwords advertising service.



Meanwhile, TheStreet reports that Apple's shares may also have benefited from disappointing Dell earnings. The nations No.1 PC maker missed Wall Street's revenue targets for its just-completed quarter by $300 million and cautioned analysts that they needed to lower their revenue targets for its current quarter.



Shares of Apple closed regular trading up $2.10, or 4.8%, on Friday to $46.10. As of 10:30 am eastern time on Monday, shares continued to rise some 2.69% to $47.34 on heavy volume trading.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 32
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Well, since I have a lot of Apple stock, I'm happy, as usual, to see it go up, but I would love to think that this is more than a bubble caused by a quickly dissipated rumor.



    As far as sales number go, I'm hearing two distinctly different things. One is that the "halo effect" is overwhelming the "Osborn effect", and that cpu sales are doing very well, because most consumers don't know or care about the switch. Or two, that Apple's cpu sales are taking a huge hit because of it.



    The first would propel Apple's stock comfortably above 50, possibly to 55. The other would move the stock to 40 or below.



    It's going to be difficult to wait it out through September unless we get some numbers soon.
  • Reply 2 of 32
    amac4meamac4me Posts: 282member
    I wonder how this would work and I speculate how Google would integrate iTunes into their offering.



    Perhaps Google would offer iTunes through something similar to their Adwords/Adsense program. That would allow Apple to build a presence on numerous websites. Google would then get a referral from Apple for each song that leads to a sale. If this is how it will work, it will lead to more iPod sales which in turn will continue to drive the "Halo effect" with an end result of increased Mac sales.



    That's just me speculating. It will be interesting to see what happens with this potential partnership.
  • Reply 3 of 32
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    I assumed something like that, that searching for a band name/lyric/song title would give you links to the iTMS as well as the actual hits. Much like the AdWords, but more prominently displayed.
  • Reply 4 of 32
    Quote:

    Originally posted by amac4me

    I wonder how this would work and I speculate how Google would integrate iTunes into their offering.



    Perhaps Google would offer iTunes through something similar to their Adwords/Adsense program. That would allow Apple to build a presence on numerous websites. Google would then get a referral from Apple for each song that leads to a sale. If this is how it will work, it will lead to more iPod sales which in turn will continue to drive the "Halo effect" with an end result of increased Mac sales.



    That's just me speculating. It will be interesting to see what happens with this potential partnership.




    I've not heard of this rumour, but I quite fancy the idea. A couple of weeks ago I searched for info on Cocoa programming on Google and at the top was a picture and link to a book within the Google Print section. I hadn't heard of Google Print at the time, so went and had a look at the book. I think this would be their most ideal method in selling tunes. Have a itunes.google.com address and have the top hitting result appear on google.com.



    edit: Found a result which shows a book at the top: Google Search for Terry Deary
  • Reply 5 of 32
    I sincerely doubt that Joe Public knows and/or cares about what processor is in the consumer mac that will replace their PC. I don't expect that this would cause pause for anyone related to the halo effect.



    The only people I imagine caring are mac/pc fanatics/power users. Myself, as a business owner, I will buy a computer if and when we require one - and it won't be a PC.



    As a personal user, in the know regarding the processor change, sure I might chose to wait and see what the Intel mac will offer. But I still don't see the average consumer (the majority) knowing what a PowerPC is or what it means to them to even ask. Let alone investigate the processor roadmap for the Mac that they are purchasing to complement their iPod.
  • Reply 6 of 32
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by smack416

    I sincerely doubt that Joe Public knows and/or cares about what processor is in the consumer mac that will replace their PC. I don't expect that this would cause pause for anyone related to the halo effect.



    The only people I imagine caring are mac/pc fanatics/power users. Myself, as a business owner, I will buy a computer if and when we require one - and it won't be a PC.



    As a personal user, in the know regarding the processor change, sure I might chose to wait and see what the Intel mac will offer. But I still don't see the average consumer (the majority) knowing what a PowerPC is or what it means to them to even ask. Let alone investigate the processor roadmap for the Mac that they are purchasing to complement their iPod.




    It doesn't have to be the majority. It just has to be enough to lower sales numbers sufficiently to make Apple's advances halt. If Apple's expectation of $3.5 billion comes true this quarter, that could be enough to drop the stock. If it is around $3.7 billion, that could be enough to raise it.



    Unfortunately, investors today expect a company to beat the street, not meet expectations. This is what happened to Dell. They forecast further in advance than Apple does, so they have had to lower expectations that they set two quarters ago. Apple also lowered expectations for last quarter, then blew through it. This quarter they have also set low expectations, but the street isn't buying it, for the most part at this time. But if it proves to be true, the stock might plunge.



    If this Google-Apple deal is real it will help for now, but the stock might fall back again in a few days. That's what happens on this type of news. It might rise to 49-50, but profit taking would drop it back to 46-47.



    The rumored deal isn't in enough detail to tell us anything useful. Assuming it's real. Hopefully it is, and they will announce it in a day or two to keep the momentum up.



    Then it has to show that it will actually increase revenues rather that merely be for show. It might increase page hits for Google, but will people who haven't been been buying from iTunes buy, or will it primarily be the same people coming to the iTunes site from another direction?
  • Reply 7 of 32
    Tomorrow is Tuesday. Will Apple announce its iTunes partnership with Google? Or maybe something else?
  • Reply 8 of 32
    macgregormacgregor Posts: 1,434member
    I know that this is being way too critical, but this is not specifically a rumor. It is a regurgitation of an analysis of a rumor.



    Anyway, regarding the rumor, I would love to see a Google/Apple/Phone Company triumvirate develop to push standards away from MS "standards" and away from RIAA pressures.



    Google is of course in a big war with MS - so is Sony and it is only a matter of time before MS buys itself into content beyond MSNBC. Even with the iPod halo effect MS doesn't have to worry about switchers in the short term. Like Rome, even if it falls eventually it can buy its way into other industries with time to spare.



    I just wonder if Apple can give Google enough advantage over MS to make it worth their while.
  • Reply 9 of 32
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by baranovich

    Tomorrow is Tuesday. Will Apple announce its iTunes partnership with Google? Or maybe something else?



    I don't know, but I posted this on another thread.



    http://www.macobserver.com/stockwatc.../08/15.1.shtml
  • Reply 10 of 32
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MacGregor

    I know that this is being way too critical, but this is not specifically a rumor. It is a regurgitation of an analysis of a rumor.



    Anyway, regarding the rumor, I would love to see a Google/Apple/Phone Company triumvirate develop to push standards away from MS "standards" and away from RIAA pressures.



    Google is of course in a big war with MS - so is Sony and it is only a matter of time before MS buys itself into content beyond MSNBC. Even with the iPod halo effect MS doesn't have to worry about switchers in the short term. Like Rome, even if it falls eventually it can buy its way into other industries with time to spare.



    I just wonder if Apple can give Google enough advantage over MS to make it worth their while.




    The MS/Google war has really been heating up and this (if true) is just one more aspect of it.



    So far, I see Google getting more out of this than Apple. While I can see Google getting more page hits, and thus more AD bucks, as well as being paid for redirection to the iTunes site, I'm not convinced that it will result in a significant increase in iTunes sales.



    MS announced some time ago that they were leaving the MSNBC business. I haven't kept track of that though.
  • Reply 11 of 32
    macgregormacgregor Posts: 1,434member
    As MS entered the game console business they bought Bungie for content. As MS moves into the media business they need at least a couple of content creators. MSNBC wasn't enough, I'm just waiting for the next aquisition. Dreamworks?!
  • Reply 12 of 32
    Quote:

    Originally posted by baranovich

    Tomorrow is Tuesday. Will Apple announce its iTunes partnership with Google? Or maybe something else?



    Obviously PowerBook G5s.
  • Reply 13 of 32
    Quote:

    Originally posted by jobberwacky

    Obviously PowerBook G5s.







    You mean Dual Core Yonah PowerBooks
  • Reply 14 of 32
    Is it a record high...? I thought AAPL was around $150 before they split with in the last year and a half... That would make it $75 per share now...
  • Reply 15 of 32
    louzerlouzer Posts: 1,054member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by OS X Guy

    Is it a record high...? I thought AAPL was around $150 before they split with in the last year and a half... That would make it $75 per share now...



    Hey, I thought the same thing, but then I looked it up on Yahoo and they listed another split at the end of Feb, 2005, which would cut it down another 50%.



    Can't believe I didn't remember that. Probably because I didn't have any stock at the time.
  • Reply 16 of 32
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    It's hard to imagine what Google could do for Apple. Perhaps Google could search the contents of the iTMS, but that doesn't seem like such a big deal.
  • Reply 17 of 32
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by OS X Guy

    Is it a record high...? I thought AAPL was around $150 before they split with in the last year and a half... That would make it $75 per share now...



    No. Apple hit a high of $144 or so late '90's. It split then. The market drop killed it. Then the dropping sales brought it down more. It was as little as $13 or so several yeard ago. I bought it back at $16.90 a couple of years ago or so. It went to close to 80 and split.
  • Reply 18 of 32
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MacGregor

    As MS entered the game console business they bought Bungie for content. As MS moves into the media business they need at least a couple of content creators. MSNBC wasn't enough, I'm just waiting for the next aquisition. Dreamworks?!



    As I wrote in the post right above yours, MS said that they were leaving the MSNBC arrangment.
  • Reply 19 of 32
    newnew Posts: 3,244member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by BRussell

    It's hard to imagine what Google could do for Apple. Perhaps Google could search the contents of the iTMS, but that doesn't seem like such a big deal.



    Are you serious? Think about how many people use google everyday. If everybody who do a music related search gets a link to ITMS, it could translate into an incredible number of sales.
  • Reply 20 of 32
    macgregormacgregor Posts: 1,434member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by melgross

    As I wrote in the post right above yours, MS said that they were leaving the MSNBC arrangment.



    Which means they may be looking for someone else.
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