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.
I wish Newsweek would pay me money to talk out of my ass like this Rogers character. This crap isn’t even worthy of a rumors site.
Canon?? Well, why not. Canon did build the Color StyleWriter printers for Apple, and they worked well… But Canon buying Apple? Naaaawww!!
(maybe the other way around?)
Ha friggin HA! Dont make me laugh! What a royal jackass.
This man is an idiot. He doesn’t seem to have heard about Apple’s latest PowerBooks, fails to acknowledge that the iBook represents a better value than ANY PC laptop, fails to notice that the iMac is way out of the league of any PC desktop in terms of design and usability AND VALUE, and he doesn’t seem to be aware that Apple is doing well (even gaining market share slowly!). Of course, this illeged “futurist” likely knows as much about current technology as your average clown in some cafe does.
Why is he getting paid for this schlock? He might as well write for the Enquirer, or People magazine. Heck, I guess that might be a better job…
What a load of bunk. Thanks for the laughs!!!
Sad comment on our culture that people get paid for these kind of mind farts.
thought you might all enjoy my response to Mr. Rogers:
Plain and simply, you are an idiot. Do you actually perform any research on these “predictions” or do you just regurgitate tripe from the “Tech. Corner” of your local newspaper? Do you REALIZE how many times Apple has been declared “dead”? Do you REALIZE how uninformed – no IGNORANT – you present yourself as with such a tired commentary? Apple produces excellent products – that’s the bottom line. If you actually OPENED YOUR EYES and noticed the new line of PowerBooks just announced, you would realize that the iMac is not the ONLY winning product. Please, Swami, try and actually do some REPORTING next time around.
Why is the unemployment rate so high these days? Any blubbering idiot can get a job with NewsWeek. I think Pres. Bush should that this into account when considering welfare reform!
Maybe this guy got it backwards? Apple could buy out Canon!
Fire this guy. I could have made a more credible mad-lib! A far more likely headline: “Gateway files for chapter 11”
And if i’m not mistaken, isn’t Apple worth more than Canon?
This is more VAPORWARE from MS. I guess that he forgets that Apple does have a partner and it is MS. MS relized that they could not beat apple. so they figured out hao to join us and still hire people to dispell the idea of Apple.
Just a note on a comment made earlier about “Apple could buy out Canon!” Apple (Nasdaq AAPL – Mkt Cap
$5.090 Billion) closed @ $14.13 on 01/27/03 while Canon Inc. closed @ $35.05 (NYSE CAJ – Mkt Cap
$30.711 Billion!!) Perhaps the confusion stems from the fact that Apple’s stock is much more heavily traded and it’s product line much simpler than the hugely diversified product offerings of Japan’s Canon.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Apple, but even with it’s vaunted $4 Billion+ cash account it doesn’t appear to be anywhere near acquiring Canon Inc which has a 6x higher market cap.
More likely I think would be continued ‘strategic partnerships’ which make sense since Canon’s digital products are considered high-end enough to be paired with Apple (in lieu of the fact that first choice Sony would rather push their own brand of PC’s when advertising their digital offerings)
Don’t you just love to see predictions without use of a crystal ball. That’s what’s missing or maybe it’s the other way round!
Let’s just be clear about one thing, this article was not published in the hard copy version of Newsweek Magazine. Maybe the hard copy editors realized it was as much bunk as those of us here!