I rarely hear Apple involved in any large scale purchases of companies.
That is probably because they prefer to create everything inhouse.
But i want to list a few possible companies that if apple were to buy, would reatly help it out.
Adobe/Macromedia
Apple would be able to afford it (through debt) to purchase this company. It will get control over a wealth of assets. Photoshop, Macromedia Studio, etc. And a bunch of standards, PDF, Flash, Shockwave.
With Bill Gates stepping down from Microsoft, Apple will lose its biggest advocate in the company. Bill Gates is by far the biggest Mac fan, he was the proponent in starting the Mac Business Unit. The only reason MSFT will not stop support for the Mac now is because they are making a lot of $. But like they stopped IE (because of Safari) and they stopped OE (because of Mail). With iWork being #2 in the Office Suite market share (thats including Windows and Mac) and Apple obvioulsy going to be adding more functiantlity to it, Microsoft might eventually stop support for the Mac. But it will be different, because their file formats are closed, and support for it will be more difficult (.docx, XPS, etc) So if apple has some leverage over Microsoft, it might be wise.
Sun Microsystems
Sun tried to buy Apple a few times. But now that their fortunes were reversed, i think it would be wise for Apple to buy Sun. First off they have the same business model, give away the software to sell the hardware. But Apple could use Sun for a lot of things. They can take Solaris technology, and add it to Mac OS X (like ZFS), and they can slowly kill Darwin, and make Soloris the Open Source Mac OS X, but stripped down. It will be OS X testing arena. They can also greatly expand their server lineup. They will have Intel/AMD and have control over SPARC chips.
Last and most important, there is Java. By far the most important thing Sun has to offer. Java is already a big piece of Mac OS X, imagine Apple controlling it. They will completly overhaul it (better design) and find a way to monetize it. Maybe even build a client for the iPod.
Avid Technology
Very easy purchase, it will largley expand Apple's media creation software.
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With Avid/Adobe, Apple will have THE creative platform, that no one can rival.
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With these 3 purchases Apple will gain a great wealth of assets, people, communities, help. And most importantly standards like PDF, Flash, Shockwave, Java. Makeing it a superpower in the computer industry, not just a darling. It will solidify its survival. Even if they stopped making iPods tomorrow, they will be fine, if they owned these companies.
VLC & RealMedia
If they can get VLC to help make Quicktime better, and if they buy Real just for their codecs (which, beleive it or not, are used ALOT) and intergrate it into Quicktime, they will own Media Players for pros (even more so), and Quicktime is built into iTunes, so they will have the best media player (also, even more so). They will
Other Companies
Palm
RIM
Tivo
These seem more unlikley, but you never know. Palm and RIM are expected to merge. So if Apple can grab them up. They will quicky be the leader in the smartphone industry. And quickly rebrand them as iPods.
Apple's goal is to create an ecosystem, not a platform. Hardware, Software, Mobile, Cell Service, etc.
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Apple should also think about expanding .Mac furthur. It can be the killer app for getting a Mac.
First off for $99 a year, i think Apple can give everyone their own Domain Name, not hompage.mac.com/whatever.
First off, they should add a Microsoft OneCare like service. Complete securty and maintenance (backup, disk defrag, etc) so you dont have to need any other utility software.
Another thing they despreatly need is with iSync, to sync all their PIM apps (mail, ical, ichat, addressbook, stickies, etc) across Macs, Mobile, and Web. And the .Mac PIM viewer should be overhauled with Ajax. And being a premium service, no ADS!
More so, they should look into buying Bubbleshare or somthing to make an online iLife viewer. So you can view all your Photos, listen to all your music, watch all your videos, etc all streamed from your computer and allow for posting on differnt websites (flickr, youtube, etc). more so, they should make mac.com to be a social network. for people to share all their media, blogs, podcasts, iTunes interests, etc.
.Mac is a bigger asset than Apple thinks.
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Lastly, Oracle. Larry Ellison is on the board of directors of Apple. Now why is their no support for 10g Database, or their business applications, etc. I think if Jobs and Ellison can strike a deal with them for their software and middleware, that will be HUGE for Apple's server sales.
That is probably because they prefer to create everything inhouse.
But i want to list a few possible companies that if apple were to buy, would reatly help it out.
Adobe/Macromedia
Apple would be able to afford it (through debt) to purchase this company. It will get control over a wealth of assets. Photoshop, Macromedia Studio, etc. And a bunch of standards, PDF, Flash, Shockwave.
With Bill Gates stepping down from Microsoft, Apple will lose its biggest advocate in the company. Bill Gates is by far the biggest Mac fan, he was the proponent in starting the Mac Business Unit. The only reason MSFT will not stop support for the Mac now is because they are making a lot of $. But like they stopped IE (because of Safari) and they stopped OE (because of Mail). With iWork being #2 in the Office Suite market share (thats including Windows and Mac) and Apple obvioulsy going to be adding more functiantlity to it, Microsoft might eventually stop support for the Mac. But it will be different, because their file formats are closed, and support for it will be more difficult (.docx, XPS, etc) So if apple has some leverage over Microsoft, it might be wise.
Sun Microsystems
Sun tried to buy Apple a few times. But now that their fortunes were reversed, i think it would be wise for Apple to buy Sun. First off they have the same business model, give away the software to sell the hardware. But Apple could use Sun for a lot of things. They can take Solaris technology, and add it to Mac OS X (like ZFS), and they can slowly kill Darwin, and make Soloris the Open Source Mac OS X, but stripped down. It will be OS X testing arena. They can also greatly expand their server lineup. They will have Intel/AMD and have control over SPARC chips.
Last and most important, there is Java. By far the most important thing Sun has to offer. Java is already a big piece of Mac OS X, imagine Apple controlling it. They will completly overhaul it (better design) and find a way to monetize it. Maybe even build a client for the iPod.
Avid Technology
Very easy purchase, it will largley expand Apple's media creation software.
---
With Avid/Adobe, Apple will have THE creative platform, that no one can rival.
---
With these 3 purchases Apple will gain a great wealth of assets, people, communities, help. And most importantly standards like PDF, Flash, Shockwave, Java. Makeing it a superpower in the computer industry, not just a darling. It will solidify its survival. Even if they stopped making iPods tomorrow, they will be fine, if they owned these companies.
VLC & RealMedia
If they can get VLC to help make Quicktime better, and if they buy Real just for their codecs (which, beleive it or not, are used ALOT) and intergrate it into Quicktime, they will own Media Players for pros (even more so), and Quicktime is built into iTunes, so they will have the best media player (also, even more so). They will
Other Companies
Palm
RIM
Tivo
These seem more unlikley, but you never know. Palm and RIM are expected to merge. So if Apple can grab them up. They will quicky be the leader in the smartphone industry. And quickly rebrand them as iPods.
Apple's goal is to create an ecosystem, not a platform. Hardware, Software, Mobile, Cell Service, etc.
---
Apple should also think about expanding .Mac furthur. It can be the killer app for getting a Mac.
First off for $99 a year, i think Apple can give everyone their own Domain Name, not hompage.mac.com/whatever.
First off, they should add a Microsoft OneCare like service. Complete securty and maintenance (backup, disk defrag, etc) so you dont have to need any other utility software.
Another thing they despreatly need is with iSync, to sync all their PIM apps (mail, ical, ichat, addressbook, stickies, etc) across Macs, Mobile, and Web. And the .Mac PIM viewer should be overhauled with Ajax. And being a premium service, no ADS!
More so, they should look into buying Bubbleshare or somthing to make an online iLife viewer. So you can view all your Photos, listen to all your music, watch all your videos, etc all streamed from your computer and allow for posting on differnt websites (flickr, youtube, etc). more so, they should make mac.com to be a social network. for people to share all their media, blogs, podcasts, iTunes interests, etc.
.Mac is a bigger asset than Apple thinks.
---
Lastly, Oracle. Larry Ellison is on the board of directors of Apple. Now why is their no support for 10g Database, or their business applications, etc. I think if Jobs and Ellison can strike a deal with them for their software and middleware, that will be HUGE for Apple's server sales.
