Apple

Barron's: Apple Could Buy Disney?

02/25/2006 14:00

Sometimes, you have to wonder if the business trades have anything resembling sources or financial acumen to provide real insight or scoops. This week, Barron's is suggesting that with Steve Jobs on board as the number one shareholder of Disney (DIS), following Pixar's acquisition, that Disney is ripe for the plucking for an acquisition by Apple (AAPL). Yes, you read that right. The article says that Disney is horribly undervalued, and that Jobs would take the opportunity to "take it out".

Anybody who's followed the world of Apple rumors for longer than say, since the iPod was introduced, can remember this rumor du jour being floated, but in the opposite direction. If it wasn't Disney buying Apple, or Sun (SUNW) buying Apple, it was Larry Ellison (ORCL) buying Apple, or in Michael Dell's (DELL) fantasy world, that Apple would shut down and give their money to the shareholders. Now that the Pixar deal is consummated, people are chomping at the bit for the next big move.

But look at the numbers. Apple has a $60 billion market cap, and Disney's is over $50 billion. Apple's cash on hand is in the $10 billion range. And does Apple really want to own ESPN and ABC and Disneyland, Disney World and the whole bit? Wouldn't Apple prefer to continue dominating the technology space in innovation, and leave media monopolies alone? Wouldn't a Disney acquisition eliminate the possibility of working with NBC's shows on iTunes, or working with Viacom/MTV? It would seem the conflicts and competition would outweigh a purchase of Disney - Pixar or not.

Steve Jobs has surprised us before. Apple's acquisition of Next resulted in Jobs' triumphant return to lead Apple to unforeseen new heights, but an acquisition of Disney? Only in a business reporter's dream world!

iTunes to Hit 1 Billion Song Mark Tonight

02/22/2006 21:00

Apple is on quite a roll with their iPod/iTunes music combo, which has propelled the once "beleaguered" computer company to the forefront of the technology leadership curve. In fact, at one point last month, only a few years removed from Michael Dell's catty comment that he would close Apple and divide up the take among the shareholders, Apple's (AAPL) market capitalization eclipsed that of Dell (DELL) itself. Though the stock has gone down a bit since then, the company's momentum has not.

Now, three years into the iTunes Music Store launch, Apple is on the verge of selling its one billionth song. The company announced a plethora of gifts to loyal music store customers, offering a free iPod Nano and gift card for each song sold at a multiple of 100,000 and is ramping up for the big prize -- whoever purchases the 1 billionth song will receive a new 20-inch iMac, 10 60 Gigabyte iPods, and a whopping $10,000 to spend at the iTunes Music Store for any media. I can't even think how I could spend $2,000, but I'm sure I'd find a way, given the challenge.

According to my iTunes library, my "purchased" collection from the iTunes Music Store numbers just under 1,000, at 982, since my first song purchase on April 28, 2003. I purchased 25 songs that day, ranging from R.E.M. and U2 to Traci Lords and DJ Encore. The iTunes Music Store has grown up in a big way since, offering a much greater set of music to choose from. The company's consistent pricing also throws a wrench into any of the retail stores who might otherwise get my money, and I've practically eliminated my spending on Amazon.com since the iTunes Music Store's introduction.

In the next hour, Apple will most likely hit 1 billion, and I'll try to win the big prize. If I do win, you'll be sure to know.

NBC "Conviction" Pilot Free on iTunes Before it Airs

02/21/2006 00:40

Dick Wolf, the producer behind the mega-hits Law and Order, Law and Order: SVU, and Law and Order: Criminal Intent is back at it again with yet another courtroom drama, called Conviction. This drama has been said to focus more on the characters than on the cases, in a significant change from the traditional L&O series we've known for more than a decade.

NBC is getting behind the show in a big way - offering heavy promotions through the Olympics, and in what's a world first, that I know of, the show's pilot is available for download on iTunes before it airs on TV.

You can get it now: Conviction Pilot: Free

The download weighs in over 200 MB, but the price is right, and it just may be a good show after all, one to add to the TiVo season pass roster, should it rival the originals in quality. The show is set to debut on Friday, March 3rd on your boring old television.

Not Moving to Mac Intel Right Away

02/20/2006 13:00

I have a long, sometimes painful, history of being an early technology adopter. I was using the first VisorPhone adapters with Handspring years before they introduced the Treo line of hybrid smartphones, purchased an iPod less than 12 hours after Steve Jobs introduced them, upgraded to Mac OS X Public Beta before it was available to the mass market, and was using Netscape Navigator before it was a 1.0 release.

With all that said, people expect I'd be first in line to snap up an Intel-Powered iMac or MacBook Pro. After all, didn't Steve Jobs say the new laptops, powered by Intel were 3 to 4 times as fast as the old model? Doesn't that make my 1.25 GHz PowerPC G4 seem like a dinosaur in comparison? Surprisingly, no. I'm perfectly happy with my laptop, power adapter issues aside. The PowerBook has 1 GB of RAM, an 80 GB hard drive, and is plenty fast for whatever I need to do. Also, we understand the issues with benchmarks. Vendors can run a suite of tests and announce those where they play the best. Reviews have come out saying that the new MacBook Pro is not in fact 3 to 4 times faster, and may be slower in some cases for particular activity. Besides, how fast does it need to be to read e-mail, write in Microsoft Word and surf the Web? At that point, the limiting factor with speed is your broadband connection, not the CPU.

So - add it up. You have a lack of demand, and not enough compelling reasons to take a gamble on what so far is an unproven architecture. I expect that version 1.5 and version 2.0 of the MacBook Pro will add additional speed and functionality unavailable in this first version. In fact, Apple announced this week that the first round will be even faster than originally announced. I don't see that as an accident. And this doesn't even take into account the migration of applications by developers of PowerPC apps to a Universal binary that runs equally fast on PowerPC and Intel architectures. I think I can wait until Adobe, Microsoft, and all the smaller developers I depend on for the apps that I use are ready.

Apple: Worst Power Adapters Out There

02/18/2006 13:05

Apple (AAPL) makes a lot of wonderful products with great quality: their laptops, iPods, Cinema Displays and the overwhelming majority of their products work very well, have long-lasting stability and simply do things better than the alternatives in the Windows world. However, they have not impressed me with the quality of their power adapters for the iBook and PowerBook lines. The adapters easily wear out, stop charging and can bend with any kind of force - meaning we are pushed to pay the "Apple tax" and re-up for another adapter or two per year in our house, even while the laptops keep chugging along.

In 2002, when I moved from Belmont to Palo Alto, I made a choice to ditch my home desktop and purchased the first laptop I'd ever had - a G4 Titanium PowerBook from Apple. With it came the standard software package and power cable. But when I made the switch to live the laptop lifestyle, I didn't expect the cord would become such a limiting factor. I've probably purchased four or more additional power adapters from myself or my wife since moving to laptops. We recently, doing a household cleanup, must've tossed out two more dead ones. Now, we know we have two working, one each for "his and hers", and we'll see how long that lasts. But so far, we've been unimpressed.

In parallel, I've utilized a Dell (DELL) laptop from the office over the last four years, and have never had trouble with the power cords. They're definitely an ugly piece of junk, but at least they work. Apple should learn how to ruggedize their cords - it's one place where function always wins out over form.

South Park, Beavis & Butthead Added to iTunes

01/26/2006 08:05

Going back to entertainment that all of us like, but a smaller percentage will actually admit to... Apple's iTunes Video store now features the entire first and second seasons for both South Park and Beavis and Butthead - two very funny shows, especially when they first launched, though South Park has definitely earned a higher level of staying power over time.

Let the dumbing down of America continue... but good for Apple. Yet another guaranteed revenue stream, and even more excuses to push us into eventually upgrading to a video iPod. Just like when they first debuted the iTunes Music Store, the video store's initial pickings were slim indeed, but as they continue to add more mainstream entertainment (and these are definitely mainstream), sales will follow.

MacWorld Keynote

01/10/2006 18:35

I haven't yet seen the MacWorld Webcast, but as with every year, there were some surprises, and some rumors went wholly unfulfilled. iWeb - a new software tool to manage Web pages and blogs, was introduced as part of iLife 2006, which was no surprise, and Intel made its way into Macs for the first time - again not a surprise. But while those came through, there were expectations for new iPod shuffles (didn't happen) and the introduction of an Apple line of plasma TVs. That too was nowhere to be seen.

While the new "MacBook Pro" (who names these things?) is interesting, one must note it is the first iteration, and things will only get faster from here. I've had just about enough of being User 1.0.

Now on to fulfill my geekly duty and watch the webcast.

Apple Adds SNL Skits to iTunes

01/09/2006 23:59

Ahead of the MacWorld Expo keynote set for later this morning, Apple posted Saturday Night Live content on iTunes for $1.99 per download, and collections for $9.99 - similar to their pricing of music albums.

The first sketch, issued freely a few weeks ago, "Lazy Sunday", was outstanding.

Saturday Night Live on iTunes

Macworld Expo Eve 2006

01/09/2006 22:39

Every year, just before MacWorld Expo, I swear I'm going to finally go again, and I haven't made it back. In 2001, a friend and I made it to San Francisco and saw Steve Jobs introduce iTunes (formerly SoundJam) and the Titanium PowerBook.

But I haven't made excuses. Work seems to get in the way every year.

This year I'll be back at the office, and assuredly, watching the streaming Web archive the next night on QuickTime, reliving the ecstasy, and trying to convince myself that I really don't need any of those products that look oh-so tempting.

The rumors aren't as thick this year as others. Intel iBooks and Mac Minis. PVR software to replace Tivo. Apple Plasma TVs. But only from a few sources, and some aren't even trying. Check back tomorrow and see what's happened.