Have you seen this? We just stumbled across it, as we avoid MSnbc almost as religiously as we avoid MS software, but since this piece by Michael Rogers for Newsweek is still semi-new and scores so very high on the insipid blather scale, we just had to bring you this excerpt:
“There are only so many redesigns of the iMac left for Cupertino, and being the Bang and Olufsen of computers doesn’t look like a longtime niche. The company is moving toward the consumer electronics space, in everything from digital media boxes to handheld players, but that is even more vicious and margin-thin territory than the PC biz. Even for Steve Jobs, going up against Sony has to look a bit scary. So does Apple license their cool media software for others to build into devices? The one time they tried licensing, Apple execs pulled the plug quickly. The elegant fusion of hardware and software is the DNA of Apple; seeing the Apple logo come up on the screen of some tinny consumer junk seems like sacrilege. Apple needs a long-term partnership, or even an outright sale, to someone who really knows how to play the game. My candidate: Canon. Jobs has a long-term relationship with the company (they helped him both get into and out of his NeXT computer venture). And check out those new ads with an Apple on one page and a Canon camera on the other: when you give that much expensive space to someone they better be more than just a friend.”
More “predictions” for 2003 from Michael here.
This guy is an idiot. If Apple loved canon so much, they’d still be branding Canon printers as Apple printers.
If Canon loves Apple so much, how come they won’t produce a decent Mac O)S version of their clunky software for their digital cameras?
What an airhead. I have been aware of B&O since the 60’s. Not a long time niche? You see Canon cameras in other people’s ads because they are beautiful and elegantly designed implying that people who like a pricey, well designed camera will like our product. Let me see. I saw Canon and Nikon cameras in the Apple Store, and Belkin USB hubs. It must mean that a Belkin/Canon/Nikon consortium is going to buy Apple. Sheesh. And Newsweek gives this guy a salary. Must have married the boss’ daughter.
Yeah, right! They might make nice hardware, but Canon can’t handle software worth a squat! Ask any OS X user of Canon hardware… I’m using a D30 and N1220U myself.
I agree with Dave. Just plug a Sony camera in to a Mac’s usb and voila’… Canon cameras need software and even then work awfully. Hardly a promising partnership.
And I agree with Perseusguy: thsi guy steals his salary.
I’d like to see his predictions for 2002.
Canon’s digital cameras, including the S200 (the camera shown in the ads) and my D30 (interesting to see two D30 owners on the same thread, hi guy) work great with iPhoto.
I suppose if you want to deal with RAW images and use Canon’s software to individually tailor each one you’d have reason to complain, but I take so many pictures it’s just too much of a pain. iPhoto works just great for me.
I’ll bet As the Apple Turns will have some fun with this rumour, but if the Bang & Olufsen of personal computers isn’t worth anything, then Canon won’t want it!
Since Apple is a close second to Dell in profitability and overall health, in a market that has pummelled computer companies mercilessly, I’d say they have nothing to worry about in their niche.
They’re an attractive takeover target, though, because their cash hoard is very close to their stock price. If I were to buy them at a slightly attractive price, say $17 a share, that’s only $6 a share once you take Apple’s $11/share in cash into account. Not half bad.
D
My Canon GL1 DV camcorder works perfectly with my G4 thru their firewire ports. Think it might be possible that Canon payed for its product’s placements?
Am I missing it, or did the author of the prediction just indicate some sort of partnership rather than Canon buying Apple? I don’t see the takeover language anywhere. It just seems to be a prediction of joint marketing or something, kind of like what Apple has in place (or had in place) with Samsung and Akamai.
This “futureist” must be smooking pot!
Futurists have a nifty racket going. Most of the time they make predictions so far off into the future that when the time comes no one remembers how ridiculously wrong they were. That way they get paid a lot for blowing smoke. This bozo made a silly prediction for this current year. Stupid! Many of us will remember and have a really good laugh at his and his boss’ expense.
It reminds me of the year 1960 (yes, I’m that old!) and why it was so dissapointing to futurists…
We were supposed be eating our food as little pills, cars were supposed to be obsolete having been replaced by private family airplanes piloted by computers.
I can tell most of you are new to the Mac or haven’t brushed up on your NeXT history. Canon was a majority owner of NeXT Computer (20%). They paid $100 million for that chunk. Steve Jobs and Canon went so far as Canon building NeXT compatible hardware. It’s not just a camera company, they have a long computing history!
NextGuy
So, who’s this guy bonin’ at Newsweek to get this crud published in their name?
It’s either that or articles are selected by a panel of primates!
I spent a long time working at a big name school’s business school just outside of Boston….starts with H.
To me, this “futurist” is no more intelligent then the number of so called MBA “realists” I encountered in my time there. Back in Apple’s dark times, under Gil Amelio, I was often being told by these so called “realists” that Apple did not have three months, let alone the three years everyone else was claiming.
That was what six years ago or something? I hope those “realists” got real jobs….aking people if they want fries with their order. Cause lord knows, they lack any vision to do much else.
Maybe, if we all get lucky….thats where this idiot will wind up.
Canon will have to wait in line. Disney is buying Apple! Is it April 1st already?
Don’t forget Canon’s awful OS X support for their scanners. They *finally* released drivers for my CanoScan N650U in December, after originally promising it in September. The drivers were so laughably bad (nothing more than a PhotoShop plugin, no CanoScan Toolbox) that I ended up buying VueScan.
Woo-hoo! Waiting for the return of the Canon ObjectStation!
“Futurists” are distant cousins of the “economists” who a couple of years ago predicted federal budget surpluses as far as the eye can see. And we all know how accurate they were.
Uh, right.
In further news Apple has decided to do a “reverse-Vivendi” and will soon be announcing their strategic move into… bottled water! While this will put them in direct competition with powerhouses like Coca-Cola & Groupe Pierrier Apple feels with it’s technical knowhow, committment to purity, and experience at selling the “Aqua Experiance” this to be a natural extension. Surveys show the Apple brand to be amongst the most widely recognized in the world, a world all covered 3/4ths in water, and bottled water to be one of the fastest growing markets.
One onconfirmed source has that Apple will start out it’s new direction with a “Rip, Mix, Gulp” advertising campaign complete with mp3-loaded bottlecaps.
Don’t know what Apple ad everyone is referring to but Apple and Canon is not a new thing at all.
Bell & Howell, I believe was later a Canon buy out. B&H ordered bunches of 520 all in ones or something like that. They ordered them all black, Apple made them and sold them – long before anybody did anything other than beige.
Also, Circuit City when they last sold Mac had an Apple display that featured Canon DV cameras in it. That was Apple’s doing not CC.
Canon and Apple have a long time association.
Check out how many Canon DV camcorders are not fully supported by Apple digital editing programs and laugh this load of ‘how to get publicity in the Mac camp’ crap goodbye.
Apple & Canon would make for good digital lifestyle devices but I do not know if it would be best for the computers. What would stop Canon from forcing Apple to dump its OS in favour of something more… compatible?
Sounds like another demise of Apple prediction. Only if folks (like myself) stop purchasing Macintosh computers will this happen.
I hate to break it to nextguy, but with a 20% stake in NeXT, Canon was no majority owner. That said, I made my living for years with Canon SLRs, and I still prefer their cameras and camcorders to anyone elses.
They have a long history in computing, but unfortunately for Canon, none of their attempts have been very successful here, even if they’ve been technically good. Maybe the company is a bit too engineer-driven.
you are a @#$%* idiot. Can’t you find something to write about besides crap projections?? That will never come true.