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Could Apple Take Over Sony?

October 26, 2010 By Stephen Silver
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It's far, far away from ever coming to fruition. But speculation that Apple could have interest in buying Sony was enough to move Sony's stock up Tuesday.

According to Reuters, traders were responding to a comment by Steve Jobs on last week's Apple earnings call that there are "strategic opportunities in the future" for what Apple could do with the $51 billion in cash it has on hand. Jobs did not mention Sony by name, but that company, along with Disney and Adobe, were cited as potential takeover targets in a Barron's analysis over the weekend.


 

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Most Recent Comments:
wikoogle - Posted on October 26, 2010
I love Sony. I love Apple. Sonys tendency to use cutting edge tech combined with Apple's aesthetics and user interface would make for epic products. The only way to screw it up is if Apple demanded the Apple markup from Sony branded products like the PSP2 or Playstation 4, which would be foolish and they have no reason to do. Keep the Apple markup limited to Apple branded products only.

It would be akin to Apple buying Siri, mining them for technology, patents, expertise, and partnerships to use in their own devices, and yet leaving the original Siri brand alone and allowed to continue to operate autonomously under it's own Siri brand name.

That's exactly what Apple should do with Sony, use them to mine for tech, patents, licenses, expertise and partnerships to improve their own products, to expand into brand new areas, and yet leave the Sony brand and entity alone and under operation for the areas that Apple doesn't feel ready to step into quite yet. Apple repackages hardware and sells it at a premium with its own software. Sony can make that hardware from scratch which Apple cannot. Apple would own the entire chain of production.

Apple would get a huge record label which means they would get 100% of the revenue off of iTunes from that label.

They would acquire a ton of hardware patents which they may feel they could develop into products better than Sony's current management. Apple will retain the Sony branding for all of Sony's products that Apple doesn't personally oversee.

I think it would be a great move. The iPhone is pretty mature and the iPad is close to it. Steve doesn't have much left to revolutionize in the computer/phone space. This gives Steve the power to transform sooo many other industries. Between Sony TVs and Playstation, Apple could get Apple TV into hundreds of millions of home, and transform the living room with the app store.

Plus this is a bargain for Apple. The playstation brand, all the great game studios, gran turismo, uncharted, all the movie studios, music labels, blu ray, the cell, TVs, cameras etc. All that for 30-40 billion is a bargain price and Apple could transform all those industries, they are all in need of a shakeup of sorts.

Apple getting influence in all those industries would be a good thing. They would suddenly trounce MS and Google in how many assets they own. Sony would be Apple's lower tier brand for fantastic products that don't quite meet Job's insane standards. This is what Toyota is to Lexus, Honda is to Acura, VW is to Audi and Sony can be to Apple.

Sony has incredibly useful patents and marketshare in...

Speakers, Subwoofers, Projectors, set-top boxes, the playstation, great game studios, gran turismo, uncharted, all the movie studios, music labels, blu ray, the cell, TVs, cameras etc. And it owns valuable patents and expertise in all these areas. They are easily worth every penny of that $33 billion dollars.

The one and only weakness Sony has is in terms of software/interfacing their different devices to work together. This weakness is why I believe Sony failed to penetrated the phone, music player and mobile device industry in the recent past. Apple happens to be quite adept at precisely this. They supplement each other rather well.

It doesn't even have to be a takeover. Apple could buy 30% of Sony and get a ton of influence in the company.

But if Jobs gets an itch to transform videogame consoles, or cameras, or hdtvs, or the distribution of Sony's media or movies, or something, he would have access to the engineers and partnerships to do precisely that.

Apple makes Sony's devices more intuitive. Sony lets Apple expand into a variety of industries. In addition, previous problems such as the "bag of hurt that blu ray licensing was on OSX devices," the poor penetration of Apple into the living room, and the pain that getting Sony's music and movie content onto the iTunes store was, would melt away under such a partnership.
SonyAppleFan - Posted on October 26, 2010
I love Sony. I love Apple. Sonys tendency to use cutting edge tech combined with Apple's aesthetics and user interface would make for epic products. The only way to screw it up is if Apple demanded the Apple markup from Sony branded products like the PSP2 or Playstation 4, which would be foolish and they have no reason to do. Keep the Apple markup limited to Apple branded products only.

It would be akin to Apple buying Siri, mining them for technology, patents, expertise, and partnerships to use in their own devices, and yet leaving the original Siri brand alone and allowed to continue to operate autonomously under it's own Siri brand name.

That's exactly what Apple should do with Sony, use them to mine for tech, patents, licenses, expertise and partnerships to improve their own products, to expand into brand new areas, and yet leave the Sony brand and entity alone and under operation for the areas that Apple doesn't feel ready to step into quite yet. Apple repackages hardware and sells it at a premium with its own software. Sony can make that hardware from scratch which Apple cannot. Apple would own the entire chain of production.

Apple would get a huge record label which means they would get 100% of the revenue off of iTunes from that label.

They would acquire a ton of hardware patents which they may feel they could develop into products better than Sony's current management. Apple will retain the Sony branding for all of Sony's products that Apple doesn't personally oversee.

I think it would be a great move. The iPhone is pretty mature and the iPad is close to it. Steve doesn't have much left to revolutionize in the computer/phone space. This gives Steve the power to transform sooo many other industries. Between Sony TVs and Playstation, Apple could get Apple TV into hundreds of millions of home, and transform the living room with the app store.

Plus this is a bargain for Apple. The playstation brand, all the great game studios, gran turismo, uncharted, all the movie studios, music labels, blu ray, the cell, TVs, cameras etc. All that for 30-40 billion is a bargain price and Apple could transform all those industries, they are all in need of a shakeup of sorts.

Apple getting influence in all those industries would be a good thing. They would suddenly trounce MS and Google in how many assets they own. Sony would be Apple's lower tier brand for fantastic products that don't quite meet Job's insane standards. This is what Toyota is to Lexus, Honda is to Acura, VW is to Audi and Sony can be to Apple.

Sony has incredibly useful patents and marketshare in...

Speakers, Subwoofers, Projectors, set-top boxes, the playstation, great game studios, gran turismo, uncharted, all the movie studios, music labels, blu ray, the cell, TVs, cameras etc. And it owns valuable patents and expertise in all these areas. They are easily worth every penny of that $33 billion dollars.

The one and only weakness Sony has is in terms of software/interfacing their different devices to work together. This weakness is why I believe Sony failed to penetrated the phone, music player and mobile device industry in the recent past. Apple happens to be quite adept at precisely this. They supplement each other rather well.

It doesn't even have to be a takeover. Apple could buy 30% of Sony and get a ton of influence in the company.

But if Jobs gets an itch to transform videogame consoles, or cameras, or hdtvs, or the distribution of Sony's media or movies, or something, he would have access to the engineers and partnerships to do precisely that.

Apple makes Sony's devices more intuitive. Sony lets Apple expand into a variety of industries. In addition, previous problems such as the "bag of hurt that blu ray licensing was on OSX devices," the poor penetration of Apple into the living room, and the pain that getting Sony's music and movie content onto the iTunes store was, would melt away under such a partnership.
Click here to view archived comments...
Archived Comments:
wikoogle - Posted on October 26, 2010
I love Sony. I love Apple. Sonys tendency to use cutting edge tech combined with Apple's aesthetics and user interface would make for epic products. The only way to screw it up is if Apple demanded the Apple markup from Sony branded products like the PSP2 or Playstation 4, which would be foolish and they have no reason to do. Keep the Apple markup limited to Apple branded products only.

It would be akin to Apple buying Siri, mining them for technology, patents, expertise, and partnerships to use in their own devices, and yet leaving the original Siri brand alone and allowed to continue to operate autonomously under it's own Siri brand name.

That's exactly what Apple should do with Sony, use them to mine for tech, patents, licenses, expertise and partnerships to improve their own products, to expand into brand new areas, and yet leave the Sony brand and entity alone and under operation for the areas that Apple doesn't feel ready to step into quite yet. Apple repackages hardware and sells it at a premium with its own software. Sony can make that hardware from scratch which Apple cannot. Apple would own the entire chain of production.

Apple would get a huge record label which means they would get 100% of the revenue off of iTunes from that label.

They would acquire a ton of hardware patents which they may feel they could develop into products better than Sony's current management. Apple will retain the Sony branding for all of Sony's products that Apple doesn't personally oversee.

I think it would be a great move. The iPhone is pretty mature and the iPad is close to it. Steve doesn't have much left to revolutionize in the computer/phone space. This gives Steve the power to transform sooo many other industries. Between Sony TVs and Playstation, Apple could get Apple TV into hundreds of millions of home, and transform the living room with the app store.

Plus this is a bargain for Apple. The playstation brand, all the great game studios, gran turismo, uncharted, all the movie studios, music labels, blu ray, the cell, TVs, cameras etc. All that for 30-40 billion is a bargain price and Apple could transform all those industries, they are all in need of a shakeup of sorts.

Apple getting influence in all those industries would be a good thing. They would suddenly trounce MS and Google in how many assets they own. Sony would be Apple's lower tier brand for fantastic products that don't quite meet Job's insane standards. This is what Toyota is to Lexus, Honda is to Acura, VW is to Audi and Sony can be to Apple.

Sony has incredibly useful patents and marketshare in...

Speakers, Subwoofers, Projectors, set-top boxes, the playstation, great game studios, gran turismo, uncharted, all the movie studios, music labels, blu ray, the cell, TVs, cameras etc. And it owns valuable patents and expertise in all these areas. They are easily worth every penny of that $33 billion dollars.

The one and only weakness Sony has is in terms of software/interfacing their different devices to work together. This weakness is why I believe Sony failed to penetrated the phone, music player and mobile device industry in the recent past. Apple happens to be quite adept at precisely this. They supplement each other rather well.

It doesn't even have to be a takeover. Apple could buy 30% of Sony and get a ton of influence in the company.

But if Jobs gets an itch to transform videogame consoles, or cameras, or hdtvs, or the distribution of Sony's media or movies, or something, he would have access to the engineers and partnerships to do precisely that.

Apple makes Sony's devices more intuitive. Sony lets Apple expand into a variety of industries. In addition, previous problems such as the "bag of hurt that blu ray licensing was on OSX devices," the poor penetration of Apple into the living room, and the pain that getting Sony's music and movie content onto the iTunes store was, would melt away under such a partnership.
SonyAppleFan - Posted on October 26, 2010
I love Sony. I love Apple. Sonys tendency to use cutting edge tech combined with Apple's aesthetics and user interface would make for epic products. The only way to screw it up is if Apple demanded the Apple markup from Sony branded products like the PSP2 or Playstation 4, which would be foolish and they have no reason to do. Keep the Apple markup limited to Apple branded products only.

It would be akin to Apple buying Siri, mining them for technology, patents, expertise, and partnerships to use in their own devices, and yet leaving the original Siri brand alone and allowed to continue to operate autonomously under it's own Siri brand name.

That's exactly what Apple should do with Sony, use them to mine for tech, patents, licenses, expertise and partnerships to improve their own products, to expand into brand new areas, and yet leave the Sony brand and entity alone and under operation for the areas that Apple doesn't feel ready to step into quite yet. Apple repackages hardware and sells it at a premium with its own software. Sony can make that hardware from scratch which Apple cannot. Apple would own the entire chain of production.

Apple would get a huge record label which means they would get 100% of the revenue off of iTunes from that label.

They would acquire a ton of hardware patents which they may feel they could develop into products better than Sony's current management. Apple will retain the Sony branding for all of Sony's products that Apple doesn't personally oversee.

I think it would be a great move. The iPhone is pretty mature and the iPad is close to it. Steve doesn't have much left to revolutionize in the computer/phone space. This gives Steve the power to transform sooo many other industries. Between Sony TVs and Playstation, Apple could get Apple TV into hundreds of millions of home, and transform the living room with the app store.

Plus this is a bargain for Apple. The playstation brand, all the great game studios, gran turismo, uncharted, all the movie studios, music labels, blu ray, the cell, TVs, cameras etc. All that for 30-40 billion is a bargain price and Apple could transform all those industries, they are all in need of a shakeup of sorts.

Apple getting influence in all those industries would be a good thing. They would suddenly trounce MS and Google in how many assets they own. Sony would be Apple's lower tier brand for fantastic products that don't quite meet Job's insane standards. This is what Toyota is to Lexus, Honda is to Acura, VW is to Audi and Sony can be to Apple.

Sony has incredibly useful patents and marketshare in...

Speakers, Subwoofers, Projectors, set-top boxes, the playstation, great game studios, gran turismo, uncharted, all the movie studios, music labels, blu ray, the cell, TVs, cameras etc. And it owns valuable patents and expertise in all these areas. They are easily worth every penny of that $33 billion dollars.

The one and only weakness Sony has is in terms of software/interfacing their different devices to work together. This weakness is why I believe Sony failed to penetrated the phone, music player and mobile device industry in the recent past. Apple happens to be quite adept at precisely this. They supplement each other rather well.

It doesn't even have to be a takeover. Apple could buy 30% of Sony and get a ton of influence in the company.

But if Jobs gets an itch to transform videogame consoles, or cameras, or hdtvs, or the distribution of Sony's media or movies, or something, he would have access to the engineers and partnerships to do precisely that.

Apple makes Sony's devices more intuitive. Sony lets Apple expand into a variety of industries. In addition, previous problems such as the "bag of hurt that blu ray licensing was on OSX devices," the poor penetration of Apple into the living room, and the pain that getting Sony's music and movie content onto the iTunes store was, would melt away under such a partnership.