“Apple is a company at a crossroads,” StockNews.com writes. “On one hand, it books more profit per quarter than any other firm in the world. On the other, its sales growth has completely stalled.”
“Apple is very, very cash rich. Thus, it can afford to keep raising its dividend, execute more share buybacks, and if it wants to, buy almost any company on earth,” StockNews.com writes. “Apple is traditionally very picky when it comes to acquisitions. Generally, the company prefers to purchase smallish tech firms whose technology can be quickly integrated into its own platforms.”
Here are some acquisition ideas that Apple could — and should – consider:
1. Netflix
2. Spotify
3. Electronic Arts
4. AMD
5. Tesla
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Buying Spotify would be interesting as it would not only be Apple’s slarget-ever acquisition but also basically corner the market on music subscriptions. What do you think of the others?
Tesla would be good if they want to corner the market on expensive products that people will only pay for if the government pays them to.
dork
That’s often the case if you want new superior technologies to succeed and replace inferior but entrenched olde ones. Show me an economy that doesn’t get that and I will show one in decline or on the cusp of it. Sadly if it’s the latter the error in attitudes like yours is that by the time you know they are erroneous it’s very often too late to change your approach, more enlightened others have already stolen a March and you can’t compete even if it may take years for your companies to slowly die while feeding a de lining market.
Fact is politically the move to electric and other technologies is ready underway as mayors of a number of cities around the world indicated only this week. Yes it will take years but both the technology and Will is now quite strong.
A new CEO would be an excellent acquisition.
I’d pick none of the above if purchasing them would take Cook & Co’s attention even further away from the Mac.
U don’t get it. Cook and Co just don’t really care about the Mac. Isn’t that obvious?
How bout VidAngel?
I think Steve would be pro-filtering.
To the un-informed, watch this movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TZRTkRgAFc
…But to answer the question,
Netflix purchase could provide interesting leverage against Amazon, as Netflix is accessible on their products, thereby bringing an Amazon app to ATV.
Trump Enterprises!
Tacky
I just want to see less 9f the name Trump!
Apple might not need to buy any other company except perhaps some pro software developers for the Mac. The companies proposed here are distractions that Apple doesn’t need. And if Apple bought AMD, it would destroy its relationship with its other chip suppliers, while having to manage a foundry (not the most advanced one) that supplies its competitors. Apple needs to have multiple supplier options to retain pricing advantage.
Apple needs to demonstrate competence at continuous support of the businesses it has today. It has to deliver on time, it has to show regular updates, and it has to do more than one thing at a time. Right now Apple is correctly seen as the iPhone company, because it has lost interest or has zero competence in doing anything else.
Apple needs to invest in new emerging things that improve people’s lives. It doesn’t look like self-driving cars or drones are worth the effort, and following Google into the advertising business is the antithesis of what Apple used to stand for. Apple should instead make a major play for markets ripe for disruption — like healthcare. Apple seems to think that if it just makes iOS devices, then 3rd parties will create the rest of the medical ecosystem to get it done. Big mistake. That’s the Windows way. Apple needs to demonstrate secure, personal, integrated solutions that work well with iOS and MacOS.
And as many here have commented on for 6 years now, Apple has to shore up legacy successes that are now in freefall:
1) Mac hardware, especially desktops. They don’t offer a wide enough range of price and performance, and make way too many compromises for fashion alone.
2) Mac software, especially iTunes, Mail, Calendar, Aperture, home video, and of course all the pro wares are in need of improvement to be faster, more intuitive, and more stable
3) Airports with enhanced performance and options for personal cloud storage and superior SECURE home tech integration
4) Unique display docking stations that allow BOTH MacBooks and iPads to be much more versatile than the dongle hell they are now. As it is now, you can’t conveniently plug in a MacBook Pro, an iPad Pro, and a cutting edge 4K monitor together at the same time and do anything special. Why is Apple relying on companies like Wacom to fill in the obvious gaps?
5) significant improvements to all the app stores to allow for multi-parameter search, user preferences, and so forth — GET BIG PRO DEVELOPERS ON BOARD. Pay engineering, management, and analysis software companies on board. like Ashlar-Vellum, or Wolfram, or MSC, or Dassault, or PeopleSoft, or …. software that serves the dozens of industries where Apple is not even a consideration. Apple needs to get its foot back in the door.
6) Split Apple Music away from iTunes, make iTunes better for music collection management. Show people that you actually care about a simple, intuitive user experience again.
7) Improve Maps. It still is a huge step behind. Maybe it needs Here or Delorme or Garmin to understand how people use advanced features on maps — you know, like mapping more than one waypoint at a time. What a revolutionary concept!
8) Make a great iPod again. It’s a complete embarrassment that Apple continues to sell old hardware for the prices it does.
9) Get out of the dongle business. Give away Lightning and just adopt USB-C for everything already. Improve traffic flow through stores by offering blowout sales on legacy dongles.
Very well said. The only thing I don’t like is going to USB-C completely on the iOS side unless they have some kind of authentication chip built in to prevent cheap knock off crap cables and chargers from screwing up the system. They could still have the Mfi program, maybe put a thunderbolt controller into the A series soc? Idk but something to prevent that type of stuff. Otherwise great list!!
Yeah Mike, you hit some big issues there. I agree too that Apple products would work better together if Apple used consistent connectors across the board. IPhone and iPad do need wired connections for the foreseeable future if we want them to grow in capabilities. Too thin and all wireless is a bad path. Give users flexibility!!!
“Apple needs to demonstrate competence at continuous support of the businesses it has today. It has to deliver on time, it has to show regular updates, and it has to do more than one thing at a time. Right now Apple is correctly seen as the iPhone company, because it has lost interest or has zero competence in doing anything else.”
“GET BIG PRO DEVELOPERS ON BOARD” (aka, developers-developers-developers-developers… 🙂 )
Amen.
I like the Spotify move, but they may kill them anyway. The one that’s interesting is amd. Apple could produce quite powerful graphics processors with their expertise in mobile solutions and amd’s design process, and controlling the whole widget to their specifications. It would hurt the intel relationship, but if apple were to move to A series processors with amd graphics and an x86 compatible LLVM built in… might be the full panacea to still run everything natively. It’s probably stupid, but it is interesting from an engineering perspective.
I’m soooooo tired of this neflix thing. Nflx is ponzi scheme by big investors and ‘analysts’.
Nflx has a PE of 333
Apple has a PE of 13
for apple to buy Netflix at that PE is beyond stupidity.
(at aapl’s PE nflx wouldn’t be worth 50+ billion but around 2 billion).
Netflix and Spotify. Immediately.
Spotify could be good.
I feel Netflix is something Apple should be able to do itself, IF there was better leadership.
Before we purchase anything else, can we get rid of Tim Cook first?
https://www.change.org/p/apple-board-of-directors-remove-tim-cook-as-ceo-of-apple
This looks like the sort of list of potential Apple acquisitions that is regularly proposed by analysts. Apple rarely buys companies that many of us have heard of. Their usual style is to buy up a relatively obscure company who have developed specialised know-how which Apple can make good use of.
I’d be very surprised if Apple bought any of the companies on that list.
How about they buy a replacement for the management team?
Clueless Eddie Cue should be shown the door along with his rapper friend who supposedly knows so much about music because he talks over a drum machine track. Crapple Music is a failure along with Beats One, etc.
What exactly has the Burberry Chick does to enhance shareholder value?
The Mac is continuing to languish both HW and SW.
Services suck- still. How many of you use Game Center? Why is the Mac App Store so lame and why is the iOS app store such a mess?
Debt free Apple has become debt laden Apple and the company is not better because of it?
Apple seems to be incapable of shipping anything ready for Prime Time or in a timely manner.
Apple is trapped in a iteration and imitation mode. Yeah, Phil- cannot innovate.
Jony needs to go back to the UK and design houses without doors or something. We cannot have doors disturbing his perfect lines.
Then a CEO that goes from raising money for Shillary of Wall Street to kissing Donald Drumpf’s ring. Consistent much, Tim?
Opportunistic purchase of American Express or a substantial credit card processor would give Apple a needed expansion into an area for future growth of Apple pay.