E very once in a while, about as often as a blue moon, someone somewhere speculates that Apple should be bought by some larger company with loads of cash and a decent marketing strategy. While there will be no blue moons in 2003, the speculation has nonetheless surfaced again. This time in an editorial at Wired titled Why Apple Is So Tempting.
As usual, the feeling behind this line of thinking include an honest desire for Apple to own more market share. The author thinks that Apple could have that market share if it had the marketing muscle of, say, Disney or Sony; two of the usual suspects. Hereis a bit of the Wired editorial:
To change an industry once is impressive. To do it as many times as Apple has - popularizing innovations like the graphical user interface, the mouse, multihued hardware, and edgy industrial design - is phenomenal. For three decades, Apple has blazed a trail for the computer world. Now, the music business is watching slack-jawed.
Yet somehow, after all its time at the creative helm, Apple clutches a meager 3 percent of the computer market. The company does the inspired work of figuring out new ways to entice people to buy its machines, only to have other vendors crank out inelegant imitations for the masses. It seems unfair, both to Apple and to the hordes saddled with second-rate gear.
So...why doesnit some ambitious company with deep pockets and distribution muscle adopt Apple and hold it aloft as the trophy it really is? The corporate Daddy Warbucks would get to anoint its product lines with Appleis creative mojo, turbocharging revenue and snatching market share from its imagination-challenged competitors.
The article goes on to point out successful examples of larger companies buying high profile smaller ones like BMW and Mini. The article also uses Disney having bought Steve Jobsis other company, Pixar, as another such example, but it is, unfortunately, not accurate. Pixar signed a distribution deal with Disney, and part of that deal involved a US$15 million investment from Disney, who then got shares and options on more shares for a total of 5% of Pixar. In other words, Pixar was not bought by Disney, and remains an independent, publicly traded company.
Other than that, the Wired piece is an interesting read, so stop by and check it out.