On October 6, 1997, in response to the question of what he’d do if he was in charge of Apple Computer, Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell stood before a crowd of several thousand IT executives and answered flippantly, “What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.”
A little more than a month later, on November 10, 1997, new Apple Interim CEO (iCEO) Steve Jobs responded, speaking in front of an image of Michael Dell’s bulls-eye covered face, “We’re coming after you; you’re in our sights.”
On January 13, 2006, after a little more than eight years of hard work, Apple Inc. passed Dell, Inc. in market value, $72.13 billion vs. $71.97 billion at market close, respectively.
On July 27, 2007, Apple’s value doubled that of Dell’s, $127.81 billion vs. $63.65 billion, respectively.
On December 6, 2007, Apple’s market value passed 3 times that of Dell’s, $165.66 billion vs. $54.42 billion, respectively.
On May 1, 2008, Apple rose $6.05, or 3.48%, to close at $180.00 and the company’s market value passed 4 times that of Dell’s, $158.66 billion vs. $38.97 billion.
Even after the recent market meltdown, and factoring in the $12.12 that Apple gained in after-hours trading today following stellar results, Apple is still worth nearly 4 times that of Dell, $91.79 billion vs. $24.66 billion, respectively.
Not only that, but today, Apple CEO Steve Jobs revealed that Apple currently has $25 billion in the bank and is a debt-free company.
In other words, Apple could basically buy Dell outright and, oh, what the heck, shut it down and keep the money since they’d be the only shareholders. (Of course, that’d be the kind of horribly-conceived deal only Steve Ballmer would pursue.)
Got any snappy retorts now, Mr. Dell?
AAPL and DELL quotes via NASDAQ are here.
What else would $25 or so billion buy?
• Research in Motion – $28.57 billion
• Sony (includes Sony Music Entertainment) – $25.43 billlion
• Amazon – $21.39 billion
• Activision Blizzard – $17.13 billion
• Yahoo – $16.73 billion*
• Adobe – $14.65 billion
• Motorola – $12.87 billion
• Electronic Arts – $8.98 billion
• Autodesk – $5.48 billion**
• EMI Group (includes EMI Music) – $3.67 billion
• SanDisk – $3.32 billion
• Warner Music Group – $720.67 million***
• RealNetworks – $600.47 million****
• Palm – $463.20 million
• Napster – $126.46 million
*But, that just might kill Ballmer; better to leave him right where he is for as long as it takes.
**Can you say “AutoCAD for Mac OS X at half the price of the Windows version along with the announcement that Windows support would be phased out over a two-year period combined with the offer to double the number of licenses at no extra cost by migrating to Mac OS X?” We knew you could.
***Eliminate the Middlebronfman, indeed.
****Hey, don’t laugh, that’s still a lot of doughnuts!
Buy Dell? What a waste of money!
Ha-Ha
Amusing, but of course there is no upside for Apple in buying Dell. Dell has nothing of value for Apple. In fact, Dell has nothing of value for anyone, except maybe Microsoft which could benefit from a captive hardware brand.
Buying Dell — talk about flushing your money down the toilet!
Sounds like something Ballmer would do.
Do they have enough money to buy Adobe outright?
Why spend a load of cash on a load of shit?
Dell is rotting away at the industry bottom very nicely. No need to interfere with things.
Michael would probably like to be bought out about now!
Sounds like something Ballmer would do.
Don’t give Fat Fscking Fester any ideas!!!
Although it’d be fun to watch.
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If I was Steve Jobs, I will buy Dell and pimp out Mikey and all his shareholders too. And then I would laugh in there face and ask who the bitch now
To R2… Yes we do. Stay tuned.
“Do they have enough money to buy Adobe outright?”
At close today $14.635B.
Yes.
There are some upsides to Apple buying Adobe. There are also downsides. It would be a very big acquisition that would take years to complete in terms of bringing the companies cultures together and melding and updating the product lines.
That is actually quite amusing.
Microsoft should buy Dell. It would be consistent. The Zune competes against Microsoft’s “partners” in the music player business. There’s talk of MS buying RIM, and they’d be competing against partners in the mobile phone business. And Dell would complete the picture, with Microsoft-branded PCs.
Funny how Dell’s market cap is going down at a very steady rate. If you graph it, it should reach zero in about nine months.
Come on, folks, MDN is not seriously talking about Apple buying Dell… it’s an illustration to drive home a point.
BTW, you gotta love MDN’s elephantesque memory, pulling this one from 1996
Just for giggles.
Apple:
Today’s close $91.49
45% of 52 week high.
108% of 52 week low.
Dell:
Today’s close $12.58
41% of 52 week high.
103% of 52 week low.
Abode:
Today’s close $27.59
57% of 52 week high.
113% of 52 week low.
Everyone’s stock is being hammered. This has made Apple’s cash in hand, which many analysts deride as a waste of resources, much more valuable.
I dont know if they’ll buy dell, but SJ did say himself, these current crisis is a great time to have cash to have a little spending room
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Adobe mkt cap: US$14.65B, currently hovering around $28 / share.
A better takeover would be Autodesk which currently has a mkt cap of US$5.48B and is trading at about $24 / share …
Apple could essentially corner the Architectural / Engineering CAD market overnight.
MaWo: ‘respect’. lol
Apple doesn’t need to buy Dell or Adobe…what’s the point? I think they should buy Blizzard Entertainment and start doing for online gaming what they’ve done for online music. If Apple can move significantly into the consumer-gaming arena, they’d have music, phones, computers, gaming. Rock and roll…. hehehe 😀
@Nutcracker,
That’s an interesting idea. Less cash up front and a smaller product line makes it easier to digest. AutoCAD would require a complete rewrite, but it’s in desperate need of that already. For their cash Apple would get Maya, the AutoCAD brand, and remove a company very hostile to Apple. Add in another billion to get an interim OS X release working and write a true cross-platform version. I imagine after a year or two both Maya and AutoCAD would be spun off as wholly owned subsidiaries a la FileMaker.
Interesting.
Maybe Adobe is not a wise buy. But I have to admit, I am kinda itching for Apple to buy something big and shake things up a little.
I don’t see Dell making more than a few years. There products are crap and they will go the way of Gateway. Notice how Windows based systems manufacturers always end up going south. Anyway, Apple isn’t going to buy anything big, they will save their money. Dell will go out of business on their own. No one is going to pay high prices for Windows PC’s and that means low margin for Dell.
Actually, for all those that think this would be a terrible idea, think about this.
Apple could basically buy the brand. While Dell has a poor brand in the consumer market, they are still pretty strong in business. Apple could buy Dell and focus the company primary on business. Maybe even fork OS X into consumer and business models? But that is just crazy.
The lint in my pockets would bring more than what Dell is worth.
I really hate Dell. I really, really, really do.
And Lenovo too. Both brands are cheap turds.
@doc e,
What Apple did for online music was provide the marketplace. They don’t need to buy a gaming house to promote games on the Mac. There is a lot they can do ancillary to game production to make the Mac an attractive platform for game developers, including, as some have suggested, subsidizing one or two houses.
@Passerby. Precisely; and they also did it with the App store for the iPhone. In essence, they provided an infrastructure that didn’t exist before. Blizzard has the best online gaming infrastructure in the business. If Apple were to acquire that along with the games and talent at Blizz, they could make that online infrastructure the gaming version of the iTunes store or the iApp store.
Imagine gaming developers not having to spend time and money developing the online infrastructure the way they do now, but just develop a game that can be plugged into an existing one. Like developers not having to develop a distribution infrastructure for their iPhone apps; just put it on the iApp store.
Apple could dramatically improve the game scene for Macs with a move like this; more games, better games…faster….just like with applications on the iPhone.
Just an idea…
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Buy Adobe & Autodesk. Apple is very aware of the power of a good brand, and for better or worse, these two companies have strong brands in their respective fields.
Then phase out Windows versions, or better yet, have the Windows versions lag Mac by several years. Or make the Windows product a dog in performance.
Apple’s world domination will follow shortly. And they would still have about $5 billion (and growing) left over.
“Apple could basically buy Dell outright and, oh, what the heck, shut it down and keep the money since they’d be the only shareholders.”
Ummm, that doesn’t make sense.
Bosco,
Which is probably why MDN wrote, “Of course, that’d be the kind of horribly-conceived deal only Steve Ballmer would pursue.”
@doc e,
That’s an excellent point. I hadn’t thought of Blizzard’s online gaming infrastructure as the major asset, but it is as you say the best in the business. Apple could buy Blizzard, spin the development division off again, keep the online infrastructure, tweak it in-house, and offer it to everyone.
As you say, it would be very appealing to development houses not to have to develop and maintain all that back end themselves.
Come on,
Dell, as a sub-prime computer manufacturer deserves Govt protection. All in favor say “I’m… a socialist”
If Apple bought Autocad how many copies would they have to sell to get their monies worth and at how much. Not worth the effort!
@MikeH,
Ah, but how many Mac Pros and Cinema Displays would they sell to engineering and architectural firms?
If only Jack Miller was still around to crow about this in As the Aplle Turns. Please come back to us Jack!
@Steve…(if you really are him)…Please buy Adobe.
Pretty strong? Its probably pretty close to 9 out of 10 systems you will find in most data centers are Dell PowerEdge servers. Where Dell sucks on the comsumer PC side they really have great stuff on the server side and it shows in corporate and internet data centers.
The autocad / engineering play would mesh nicely with the niche OSX has in science.
@MikeH,
The real value is the recurring licensing fee every year. Can you say “ORACLE”? They will give it away to get that yearly maintenance fee. Once trapped, it’s hard to extract yourself.
Blizzard already offers all it’s top products for Windows and Macs on the same optical media, at the same time, at the same quality. You want to buy it to make use of its server farms?
Electronic Arts has a large and varied portfolio of less stellar game franchises that frequently are NOT offered on the Mac. Or, if they are, are not offered on the same media, or at the same time, if even by them. Apple has the server farms! Buy EA and upgrade their better products to more resemble the Blizzard offerings – expand the Sims franchise into something more like 2nd Life, for example. Mercenaries as a full-fledged multi-theater war game.
AutoCAD? Oh yeaahhh! That would be sweet!
Dell? Don’t DO it. PLEASE!
I would buy Bose…what a perceived quality name brand…and keep the name.
I would turn iTunes into an independent record company for discovery of fresh, new, undiscovered musical talent and eat the lunch of the record companies who have controlled the musical world and robbed all the artists.
I would invest in even more efficient quality customer service and add 6 months to each one year warranty for each product.
I would add iSight Zoom to the Apple TV with PIP type videoconferencing/voip calls.
I would offer a discount on Apple Store merchandise with purchase of any laptop.
I would put the iSight into the iPod touch with iChat voip to stimulate Touch sales when they level off, then later the iPhone.
I would eventually build up to 500 Apple stores in quality areas.
I would work hard on bluetooth headphones and an iSight video watch/pod.
I would improve the speaker volume on Macbooks
BTW: if you DO buy AutoCAD, none of this favored-marketing *stuff*. Yes, get the latest version out for Macs. FIRST. Yes, lower the price on seat licenses – and use the model seen with OSX Server (Family Packs hardly make sense, do they?) But keep the Windows side “available”, and reasonably priced. Maybe, MAYBE, allow purchasers to switch Windows -> Mac for free, seat for seat.
My opinion.
I think it would be hilarious. Apple could start selling low end consumer machines under the Dell name, but still run OS X. The Dell brand name would be good for getting the average consumer who doesn’t really know any better.
SONY SONY SONY.
That’s the best buy out there. You buy SONY, you get a decent foothold in Electronics, gain excellent library of movies and music, gain a movie studio, eliminate one hostile music cartel (3 to go), gain instant access to Japan as well as Asia, Europe, Africa wherever in the world there’s a SONY logo, with that acquire a brand name, Camera Camera Camera (I know it’s part of electronics but Cameras, especially video HD is in Apple’s direct future iCrossSight, remember the Pioneer HD camera mentioned by Jobs earlier), and yeah – Games games games on the PS3 revolution – in one move gone will be the ‘bag full of hurt’ to gain up on another market against M$ indeed. PSP extends out the iPhone platform and oh, the SONY bookreader whatever it’s called – pitting against the pathetic Kindle.
Yeah, I know, first Jobs will do is consolidate SONY into focussed target products and not a maker of everything from Toasters to Satellite grade lights.
Buying SONY makes so much more sense also, you take out special pricing from Amazon, lala etc. Integrate AppleTV with Bravia and I am sure there are plenty of other benefits I’m missing right now.
I’m just hoping that SONY doesn’t have any outrageous debts on their hand right now.
Meanwhile, with the rest, Adobe’s a bloatware. EA already supports Mac, why stifle innovation when the R&D;isn’t costing you anything and you benefit without acquiring. I’d buy Yahoo though, just to get into the Social thing and it’s a good company. Keep Google on it’s toes, you tread in my territory I’ll tread in yours and no one is safe when Apple innovates.
Finally, AutoCad. Haven’t used it in over a decade. It was already a bloatware and was losing businesses to other competing products. Not sure about Architecture, but in Aerospace we use a lot Dassault System’s CATIA and mostly SolidWorks. There are a few other options, but Aerospace Industries have moved on from AutoCad in droves a long time ago. I’m sure that’s also true for most other Mechanical Engineering firms. But hey, if you want to buy AutoCad for all the architects, go ahead.
And buying BOSE will gain another niche product and will sink the company faster in this economy. BOSE follows Apple, Apple doesn’t need BOSE.
Meanwhile, I think Apple-Sony marriage will be better than AOL-TW. Not sure about Yahoo, but I like that Young. We grew up together on the net.
Apple should buy or invent a way for iPod Touch users to have WiFi access Nationwide. Or some form of cellular net access. IPod T sales would explode.
Why buy old and tired companies? The money should be use for buying and financing the next big thing or things. It has been by staying quick on their feet that Apple has survived and gone on to prosper since it’s near death at the hands of a stifling corporate culture. Why would they go back to that? It is likely would happen if they bought another large company.
I think AAPL should wait a few years and buy California. then they could show America and the rest of the world how they could run the country. And they could. Why? Because, unlike every politician in the world, Apple Execs have learned to look the future while travelling through the present.
And America desperately needs good Governance.
Buy Adobe. Would love to see Adobe’s overpriced, bloated products streamlined the Apple way.
Autodesk also produces Maya and 3Dx Max which are two extremely powerful 3D graphics and animation programs. To see those on a Mac would just make me die happy and go to heaven. Imagine the possibilities of those programs on a Mac. Apple could integrate OpenGL (and OpenCL in Snow Leopard) as well as Core Image and Core Animation, streamlining the complex and steep learning curve associated with Maya & 3Dx.
That my Mac friends would allow more games to be developed just for the Mac and have to be emulated for the PC, instead of the other way around. Say goodbye to DirectX (thank god) in gaming. OpenGL is way more accessible nowadays and it’s open source, so developers can alter it to suit the needs of the application using it. (For more on OpenGL and Direct3D, visit the wikipedia on it.)
It would drastically change the face of the industry in many ways that we could probably never know until it happens.
Apple buys Dell. Keeps their product line, for now. Include OSX on every machine, and keep paying the Microsoft Tax to include Windows as well (but every machine boots OSX out of the box). BootCamp will allow users to choose what system they want to run for the day. Eventually you know what will happen. Gradually over time the product line shifts towards genuine Macs, and Windows is phased out. Within 5 years all Dell production is done solely at Apple (i.e. Apple’s China factories), and then the Dell name is put to rest once all the crappy machines are no more.
How about that scenario?
@Wingsy
Apple would never put Mac OS X on a Dell box. Even if they own Dell. It goes against their own EULA and would set precedence for other companies to argue in court about how they want to run OS X on their machines as well. I bet Apple would lose that case. And only because they put OS X on a Dell.
Now if Apple bought Dell and shut it down. It would mean that Microsoft has lost one of their most important partners.
Dell may be doing shite but they can ship it. Tons of it. Can HP or any of the other companies more than double their output over night?
Think how many ‘doze licences would have to be put on hold!
Now if Apple made a Mac just for business [cubicle jockeys, secretaries and number crunchers etc.] that had OS X on it but was missing FireWire (don’t start!) and any other fancy bits and bobs a cubicle jockey didn’t need. A box that was only sold very reasonably in bulk for example. Designed to be cheap for the enterprise. One that did exactly what you just mentioned. But looked elegant compared to windoze boxes.
Then released this new enterprise Mac and marketed it to these corporations just before Apple killed off Dell. Now that would have impact and would launch Apple into the enterprise quicker than you can say Mikey sucks ass!”.
How’s that for a scenario dudes?
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Apple should take care of the coming OEM crisis before it hits. Lenovo might not make the sexiest machines in the world, but they, a Chinese company no less, sees the the benefits of near-shoring. Lenovo, who makes its own computers, is cutting back on its Chinese manufacturing and has built plants in Poland and Mexico recently. Why? Rising wages in China and the reality that high oil prices will come back in a relatively short time. It is likely that margins could be heavily affected if Apple doesn’t diversify its processes.
You kidding? Wasting $ on Dell?! In fact, Apple has enough cash to buy up BOTH Ford and GM and still have enough scratch to snatch up Adobe. Touch screen moonroof on your new Apple Corvette Explorer Hybrid running Photoshop anyone?
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Everyone, hold your breath. Apple will wait till Dell nearly sinks in then pounce on it, capture Dell’s PC brand name, stuff it with Windows XP (nope, no “V” junk), Linux and above all, OS X (deee best) and what have you got? Complete domination of the PC business. No more PC fanboys telling us how over-priced Apple computers are. Of course, they could still claim it’s not a Mac. Oh well. But at least Steve could tell Michael, “Suck it to you!”.
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Just the notion of Apple being able to afford to buy Microsoft’s biggest OEM partner is absolutely hilarious!
what is dell? just a brand. they outsource everything. apple could by all their supply lines for half the price to bring down dell. what would that accomplish for apple? only sweet revenge. almost… almost worth it.
if i was steve, i would simply use the money to further differentiate my brand with the rest.
oh, and maybe hire seinfield to do a mac commercial… yes sweet sweet revenge is very tempting…
Apple will never, ever, EVER buy Dell.
They would just rather let it die at the hands of its own mediocrity.
Repeat: Apple buying Dell… it will NOT happen. Ever. Bank on it.
MaWo: ‘dark’. As in, ‘The future days for Dell…’
Stevie should buy whoever creates USB and switch everything over to firewire.
yes i started it.
Buy Terrafugia, Inc., modify it to run OS X and give me a flying car!
It’s not a wise move but it would be hysterical if Apple bought Yahoo just to watch Ballmer’s head explode.
Buying Adobe is a bad idea IMO. Adobe has nothing of value except their customer base.
The code they own is all old, janky, windows-based crud and they don’t have any patents worth anything. Their biggest proprietary product is Flash which is dying on the vine as we speak.
Adobe’s core customer base also kind of hates their products right now and will likely jump ship the first time there is a good competitive alternative.
For the price of hiring ten good programmers to work for a year or two on it, Apple could easily develop cocoa based alternative products.
The market is wide open right now and many excellent alternatives to Photoshop are already coming out of the woodwork. If Apple bought anyone, they should buy Pixelmator and turn it into a better Photoshop than Photoshop.
I can see Apple buying Adobe, but I can’t see the necessity (other than leverage – Microsoft has Office, Apple has Photoshop).
For Apple, it would be cheaper and easier to use that cash to R&D;a real photoshop competitor with a more Apple-like feel. Photoshop does great things, but it is also a beast and Apple could do better.
They could then make a pro version of iWeb which adds in all the missing features.
ADOBE? Why oh WHY? Good god almighty NO!
AutoCAD makes great sense.
Maybe get into EA or Blizzard
But AutoCAD is a good play.
Apple should buy Adobe and then torture PC users by creating half ass PC versions for them the way (admittedly) Micro$oft does with M$ Office for Mac.
Hum! Microblurks could sell feww copies of vista and buy Dell too, By melting RIM and Dell they could create a “innovating” new device… some sort of (very) large phone with 4 antennas. Once these pulled properly, you can use the device as a confortable stool to sit in front of a “beautifull” asstable!
Wouldn’t it look sweeeeeeeeet?
Buy Sun Microsystems. For only $2 billion (Sun has $1.5 million cash after paying debt) Apple can get an instant foothold into the corporate market. They get a business sales force, an excellent patent portfolio, server and storage technology, and software. Apple can use the Sun workstations as their business line adding the option of running OS X.
Buy Electronic Arts and cease all X-Box and PC games. (Kind of a Reverse-Bungie-Ploy)
For a mere $250 million Apple could buy up Corel, streamline all their products for such as corelDraw and photoPaint into OS X, and incorporate , and drop support for windows. At the same time incorporate features in their office and photo products into current apple products.
Here’s another angle… why should Apple buy anything? Why not keep the money for rainy days or even reinvestment into the company itself?
Steve is very particular about Apple’s organizational size, remember. He’s said on many occasions that he doesn’t want Apple to become the leviathan IBM, then MS are.
Buying up Dell/Adobe wouldn’t really benefit Apple other than having a massive upsurge in employees with nothing to do, probably.
Plus, Apple actually likes the prospect of competition in the market (no matter how crap), since it gives them something to strive for.
MS proves that if you own whole markets, innovation and progression in general take a backseat. Apple couldn’t afford that mentality, ever.
@m@cm@n
fuck no.
(no honest to god graphics person uses corel.. and if you do and i offended you. refer to the first word of my post and add “you”)
buying Iceland would be a better investment then for Apple to buy Dell.
Apple should buy dell for its server line. With ZFS around the corner Apple could get Dells server line and ship some descent servers with actual server options to choose from.
NOT ADOBE
Though it sounds tempting, Applify-ing Adobe apps would be the WORST THING EVER for us professionals (prepress & print especially). Apple loves to “dumb it down” (features and function) and Adobe already has enough people bitching about their apps (features/missing features/bugs). Think about iMovie 08- worst thing ever. If InDesign had that kind of thing happen, well the entire print industry would revolt, or never upgrade again for 20 years. I don’t want Apple to totally monopolize the print business.
BUT maybe Apple could buy a controlling share (51%?) and have Adobe conform to Apple standards a bit more.
@ Chris
That’s a good alternative, actually. However I don’t see Steve/Apple being that interested since an independent Adobe not only has to finance itself but can provide Apple with a yardstick of what Adobe’s customers like and dislike; Aperture then changes as a result.
Apple usually buys ‘good ideas’ rather than acres of tangible assets (offices…) and the attendant employees as those would provide more headaches than Apple probably wants to deal with.
Apple’s ‘small enterprise’ mentality is why it does so well, remember.
The overall point is, just because you have billions doesn’t mean you’re obliged to spend it all…
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@Chris
you are partially right. though apple does have PRO apps.
BUT, because they do have PRO apps, it makes not sense to buy adobe. what will they do? consolidate final cut and premier? lightroom and aperture?
too much trouble and get nothing out of it. so i do agree with you, just wanted to add more.
pardon my french today people. at work, and need more cafe as they say in paris
I wish AAPL would buy Sirius XM radio. They could retire their 2B debt and have an automatic monopoly on satellite radio. Synergies with iPod, iPhone, IMac are significant. Even though this puppy has been beat up pretty bad by the FCC/democrats, it’s a good product (and has satellites in space…..)
Drew
@Nutcracker & Passerby & everyone else commenting…
Apple to buy Autodesk would be a huge, huge coo and a great step forward in area of software that’s lagged behind the curve or years.
AutoCAD still works on the original C ported over by Mike Riddle from his own language (SBL) back in the 80’s. Contrary to Autodesk’s claims I imagine they could have a working copy of AutoCAD for Mac up and running in relatively short order (six months?) .
The C# coding is a problem but changing it over to cross platform C++ and then incorporating it via Objective-C++ is certainly possible.
Maya was originally cross platform as far as I know and hasn’t deviated so far as to make it impossible to port it back very quickly.
If you’re unaware AutoCAD still does <u>not</u> take advantage of multiple processor cores, much less increased ram or high powered GPU’s. They’ve been focusing on adding eye candy and half-baked features instead of improving the core systems to use the hardware advances of the last 10 years.
Apple could not only wrap up a market in which it has been highly deficient (not from any fault of the company itself), but open up whole new sectors to cross platform development. It could even pull allot of Autodesk’s (surprisingly large if you look at it) product line into the new age of multiprocessor computing and take advantage of OpenCL like no other application could really showing off what the technology could do.
If Apple follows their past methodologies they could even release chunks of source code as Open Source, specifically the ‘standardized’ yet often ‘cussed’ DWG drawing format that users have been begging Autodesk to open up for years.
Please Apple, if you’re listening, please for Christmas this year I would like to see the purchase of Autodesk!!!
Avid would be the best fit for Apple. At a 6.6 Million to 7 Million buyout, Avid is a good bargain that wouldn’t effect Apples cash strong balance sheet all that much and Avid would add a nice mix to Apple’s product lines and help to add some strong engineering resources too in both the Software, Hardware and consumer electronics fronts.
I use AutoCAD and Revit, both by Autodesk, so I would love to see Apple buy Autodesk because it would mean that these programs would finally be made to run natively on Mac OS. They would need to take more than two years to phase out the Windows version though.
ArchiCAD and VectorWorks, both by Nemetschek, run on both Windows and Mac OS. that’s why I’m switching to them.
All four of these programs are in the same price range, $4,000 plus or minus, and they’re all worth it. they’re for professionals, not hobbyists. Apple wouldn’t drop the prices on AutoCAD or Revit anymore than they would on Macs.
Missing the point…
BUY DELL so apple can get their factories & systems.
KILL DELL all together.
Apple would then design + manufacture APPLE computers + aluminum shells.
Apple just bought Semi Chip company.
Apple should buy nVidia too.
This would give Apple leverage with IBM PowerPC + Intel Chips.
hmmm…
Actually, the Autodesk buyout does make sense. Lots of architects would LOVE to be purchasing Apple’s cool-looking machines. I think it would turn around ancillary businesses as well to become Apple-centric.
Or here’s another idea; buy Fender or Gibson. I would love to see a “music instruments” division of Apple. Just think of the guitars, software, gear, etc. that would happen if Jony Ive and Co. were cut loose on music gear innovation.
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Intuit:
every year a lot of small businesses (and not so small ones) and their accountants have to purchase new copies of Quickbooks. The OSX versions are never really compatible with windows.
Could be a good entry into that market for selling hardware. Still don’t have to deal with major corporations.
1.
buy autodesk and corel and spin off all the profesional software (incl. Aperture, Final Cut, Logic, Shake etc. in a separate company). give every apple-stockholder their share of it and ipo that new company (Pear?).
2.
give us a special dividend of 20$ a share, payable dec. 1. (that would be a christmas present for us suffering shareholders!)
with apple generating about 4 bn in cash each quarter now there would still be 5bn left in cash on the bank at the beginning of 2009. enough to weather any storm.
They’d be better off buying Psystar!
Actually, Apple would only have to buy 51% of Adobe.
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$7.5 billion by the number up above.
Don’t buy anything. Hold the money and keep scaring the crap out of micro$oft who is constantly wondering what Apple is going to buy.
What’s up? Is MDN sick today?
Sure, and I could sell my house and buy a herd of camels, but WTF would I do that!
What about buying Quicken?
And build Apple business solutions for small businesses.
iPhone / Macs / MobileUs / Financials
SONY is the best option.
Kill the PC division and the mobile phone division. Integrate the iPod and Apple TV into the home electronics division. Then rule the living rooms and media rooms of the world.
hummmmm
Otherwise, keep the money… stay the course. They’re already doing F A B U L O U S.
**To Hell with Dell~~~~~~~~~>
Buy Blizard.
Then withdraw Windows support.
That’s a million Macs right there!
Wait a few more years and Dell will be worth $1. Then buy it and give it to Ballmer as a gift.
If only most Americans workers and companies worked like Apple – work hard, impress, keep creating better products (=greater VALUE), earn more, and save – our economy wouldn’t be the mess it is in. This is what happens when the society models itself after Microsoft – all the supposed values are stolen, borrowed, ballooned, or faked. There’s nothing MSFT’s products and services intrinsically can offered that cannot be had or replaced by alternatives at a fraction of the price.
@Pete
Totally agree with the purchase of Sun. For a song and a dance, and with money to spare to still buy someone else, Sun would give them a whole whack of IP including SPARC, Java, ZFS as well as a very strong server line-up. OS-X seems completely portable (PPC, Intel and ARM versions of it now), so a SPARC version doesn’t seem impossible. Aside from ZFS, there are other things Solaris could offer OS-X, from simply avoiding patent infringement, to embedded OS virtualization.
Why buy RIM when you could just bring it down little by little with the iPhone and wait it out as Microsoft degrades itself to oblivion?
Adobe… now *that* would be a coup.
You kidding? Wasting $ on Dell?! In fact, Apple has enough cash to buy up BOTH Ford and GM and still have enough scratch to snatch up Adobe. Touch screen moonroof on your new Apple Corvette Explorer Hybrid running Photoshop anyone?
Damn, you beat me to the punch.
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Apple could buy all of the Detroit tin-benders: GM, Ford, AND Chrysler. And probably still have spare change left for Adobe.
GM’s Chevy Volt wouldn’t be a bad contender for Apple’s “iCar”, assuming the Volt isn’t complete vaporware.
(The way GM pre-announced the Volt years ahead, then recently showcased the Volt’s latest styling, was too reminiscent of Microsoft’s development cycle.)
How about this long shot. Apple should buy Ford since it cheap at about 4.8 Billion.
A safer bet would be to buy a controlling interest in the good ones that way you can influence them w/o taking them over. Apple don’t need more baggage and to buy up a couple of companies and then have to manage & restructure them would be foolish. Unless it was the smaller ones that would make a difference in Apple themselves like PA Semi. More Adobe competition would be better than just scooping them up and there’s plenty of talent that could be corralled into their camp but that’s their call and they’re not making it,…yet.
Such silliness. This is an irrelevant discussion. Dell is doing as well as can be expected in its niche in this market, and will continue to do so. There will always be a market for computers for bottom-feeders (enterprise and the weak-minded or poverty-level consumers). Companies like Dell are cockroaches. Step on one, and another one shows up to take it’s place. It’s got nothing to do with Apple, unless they make the mistake to produce commodity products.
For all those who have said Apple should be producing cheap(er) products, if they had they’d be suffering the same fate right now that Dell and the rest are, instead of experiencing recession-busting growth.
If Apple ever lets OSX show up on cheap boxes, or tries to compete on price, they’ll self-destruct within 5 years.
I don’t really think apple should buy anyone. If I really had to choose, I would choose Sun Microsystems. That would get them into business a lot more than buying Dell.
As for adobe, they have really been playing it safe. Notice how all adobe apps are at least 300 MB and are quite “heavy.” They have their own platform to port to the mac, and they obviously don’t want to optimize their applications for the mac. However, if Apple hired workers to make an application BETTER, than adobe, it would be much better, faster, have a lighter footprint, and much cheaper than adobe’s software. Think about this for a second: When Microsoft Office was the biggest thing out there and everyone pretty much had to use it, what did apple do? They made iWork, which is much better than office, and optimized much more for the mac operating system and hardware, giving the user a much better experience.
Aperture is a already a first step (competing with Adobe Lightroom), and I hope soon apple comes out with their own photo editing software that’s better.
This is boring – especially after 2 days. Are you still so consumed with Dell that you keep putting it at the top of the page. Who cares anymore?
“In other words, Apple could basically buy Dell outright and, oh, what the heck, shut it down and keep the money since they’d be the only shareholders.”
Huh?
How could you keep the money? The money would be gone – given to the Dell shareholders in exchange for their stock.
“In other words, Apple could basically buy Dell outright and, oh, what the heck, shut it down and keep the money since they’d be the only shareholders.”
Huh? How could you keep the money? You would have already given it to the Dell shareholders in exchange for their stock.
I have owned several Dell computers and been very happy with them. Dell’s biggest problem is that their hardware is tied to Microsoft products and MS does not seem to be very innovative these days.
I like Apple, but not so much that i want them to control Dell.
Why do so many people seem to like the idea of corporations owning the world? Multiple choices in the marketplace are essential. Arguably, Apple is as good as it is because they don’t control the vast share of the market. As the current US election shows, duopoly of choice is the next worse thing to monopoly. You’d think people would care more about product innovation and customer service than how much of the marketplace can be controlled by how few CEOs.