CloudTalkin

dk49 said:

What exactly is LG providing to Apple? Batteries? 

From the article: "Because LG Group affiliates including LG Display, LG Chem, LG Energy Solution and LG Innotek are already included in Apple's parts supply chain, Apple doesn't have to worry about any supply chain issues," said one source. "
LG Display provides displays for some iPhones, iPads, iMacs, and watches.  Not sure about laptop screens, but maybe some of those as well.
LG Chem provides some batteries.

• LG ES - spinoff from LG Chem. Batteries and battery storage solutions.

LG Innotek provides camera modules.

LG is a long time partner for Apple.

lkrupp said:

But, but, but Apple TV+ doesn’t have 25,000 1950s SciFi schlock movies like Amazon Prime does. It doesn’t have a back catalog of thousands of crappy B movies like Netflix. And it certainly does not have Nicolas Cage’s complete filmography of all the Oscar worthy dung he has starred in. But, but, but...Apple TV+ is a failure at 4.99/mo.

Looks like you posted before reading the actual article.  AI's misleading headline is not really indicative of the actual content of the article.  

The article implies that Apple has the least amount of success in the area where they focus the most amount of attention:

It noted that Apple TV+ "put most of its effort into dramas," with 47 of its 70 titles falling into that category. Apple's average drama rating suffers, though, at a 3.9 IMDb average. That average is last among the platforms, translating to a "Poor" rating.

An easy take from the article is Apple's reported push for quality programming seems to a decent strategy... overall, hence the better average IMDb rating for it's titles.  They also need to be more considerate of their drama selection since it seems the ROI in ratings doesn't seem to be paying good dividends.

AI included a link to the source article from Self.  It's an interesting read.  Excerpted from the source:

Key findings from IMDb genre analysis:

• Netflix has the best game-show content out of all streaming services (6.75 IMDb rating)
• HBO Max has the best documentaries, and has almost 300 of them (299)
• Hulu has the highest-rated comedies (137) but Netflix (1,785), and HBO Max (1,252) have far more to choose from
• Disney+ has the highest-rated sci-fi content, while Hulu takes the top spot for animations
• HBO Max has half the number of horror content (171) compared to Netflix (359) but is on average better quality (6.21 v 5.19)
• Apple TV+ has put most of its effort into dramas (47) but only averages 3.9 IMDb score per show.
• HBO Max has the best sports content averaging 6.8 for each piece of content (Hulu has a high score but only 2 pieces of sports content)

Full IMDb category ratings per streaming service.  Highest rated service in bold.

Genres	Netflix	Prime Video	Disney+	Hulu	HBO Max	Apple TV+
Action	6.39	3.35	6.24	6.90	6.96	6.38*
Adventure	6.09	5.68	5.84	7.10	6.61	4.79*
Animation	5.63	6.52	5.88	7.41	7.01	5.96
Biography	6.70	4.64	6.82	7.05	7.43	5.69*
Comedy	6.13	4.95	5.95	6.85	6.59	5.40
Crime	6.37	5.83	6.22	6.70	6.76	1.67*
Documentary	6.81	1.90	6.22	6.98	7.29	5.51
Drama	6.37	5.41	5.85	6.96	6.92	3.92
Family	5.90	3.93	5.96	6.92*	6.73	5.17
Fantasy	5.55	4.53	5.78	6.36*	6.19	2.73*
Film-Noir	7.07*	7.40*	N/A	0.00*	7.74*	N/A
Game-Show	6.75	4.37*	4.93*	5.10*	5.44*	N/A
History	5.63	5.81	7.29	7.50*	7.59	2.55*
Horror	5.19	3.76	5.85	5.50*	6.21	4.11*
Music	5.95	4.53	4.47	6.51*	6.44	3.98*
Musical	4.24	4.57	6.54	8.20*	6.34	2.44*
Mystery	5.79	5.33	6.44	6.15*	7.20	6.76*
News	6.01	1.10*	4.00*	7.80*	7.22*	1.68*
Reality-TV	6.02	3.13	4.65	7.03*	6.52	5.09*
Romance	6.31	5.02	6.26	7.15*	5.04	4.25*
Sci-Fi	4.63	4.10	6.48	6.63*	6.28	2.94*
Short	4.64	2.09	4.99	6.65*	6.93	1.16*
Sport	6.33	4.19	3.15	7.31*	6.84	3.37*
Talk-Show	5.04	2.73	2.90*	7.05*	4.32*	2.48*
Thriller	4.68	4.88	7.13*	5.37*	5.70	N/A
War	7.26	5.32*	8.80*	7.33*	7.38	3.38*
Western	5.86	4.20	6.30*	6.80*	7.09	N/A

Apologies to all for length.

CarmB said:

So who’s trying to prevent this deal from happening?

After all, Apple tends to kill deals with potential partners who start discussing in public deals that are still being negotiated. LG is well aware of how this works having worked with Apple for years.

As we speak, Apple is no doubt looking into how this information has gotten out, assuming of course, that there is any there, there.

If Apple is going to build a car then they'll quickly get used to the lack of secrecy in the automotive industry.  There are almost no surprises that happen with cars.  Shared platforms, shared tech, shared manufacturing facilities, required vehicle road testing... yeah, doubling down won't help.  I can't remember the last time a car debuted without being leaked .  Heck, the industry often actively participates in leaks.

9secondkox2 said:

mixinmaster23 said:

I know I’m probably in the minority but I truly believe Apple should buy Sony. The two companies share a similar history and culture. While Sony would offer many many new fronts that could benefit Apple greatly. From TV panels, to movie and television studios (boost Apple TV+), game studios and consoles and services, and even music labels if they’re ere to choose to get that as well. If it were allowed to happen then it would be huge for Apple.

Totally agreed. Would love to see this happen. 

Apple spent over 3 billion for a headphone company. 

With Sony, they’d be getting some serious market inroads and knowhow. 

Can even keep the sony name for the b tier stuff

Apple could buy Sony right now in cash and still have 50 billion in the bank. 

Sony is a conglomerate with multiple business units.  Most of them have no synergies with Apple's businesses.  More importantly, most of them aren't profitable.  The Entertainment and Gaming units would be the only attractive and compatible parts for Apple.  The rest would be dead weight and there's no way Sony would sell piecemeal.  The Lens unit only generates revenue and market share because of the volume from Sony supplying lenses for "erbody and they momma".  Apple isn't going to do that and manufacturing lenses only for themselves would be a negative revenue endeavor.  

Apple wouldn't buy Sony in cash and have 50 billion in the bank.  They'd have a lot more in the bank since a deal would most likely be cash and stock. But a company worth a $130 billion valuation wouldn't be sold for $130 billion.  That's not how those types of sales go.  This is all cloud talk anyway since we're talking about Apple here.  Their largest acquisition was that headphone company.  You don't go from spending $3 billion to hundreds of billions.  With Beats they acquired the headphone company with the most profit and market share in the industry at that time, and a fully fleshed music streaming service.  With Sony they'd acquire a conglomerate with mostly dissimilar business units and a lot of dead weight.

It's all moot anyway.  The Japanese government would never allow Sony to be sold. 

Seems as if Sony finally started to pay attention to MS's assault on gaming with Game Pass.  I think Major League Baseball forcing them to share their Sony Interactive (formerly) exclusive IP, MLB the Show 21, with Microsoft and allow it to debut on Game Pass the same day as Sony's release was a major (intended) wake up call.  Game Pass is a beast that keeps getting better and better and better.  Fortunately we're early in the life of Game Pass so Sony has a good opportunity to catch up.  Let's hope they take advantage.

For those unaware of why MLB the Show on Game Pass is such a big deal.  1. Sony Interactive owns the IP.  2. It's developed in house by their San Diego Studio.  3.  PS4 and PS5 players will have to buy the game to play it.  4. XBOX Game Pass subscribers will be able to download and play it without having to buy the game.  Heretofore unheard of in gaming.