“Reuters reported that the speculation was fueled by a report from Barron’s that stated that cash-rich Apple could be aiming for acquisition and named Adobe, Sony and Disney as potential targets,” Bagh reports. “Apple currently has $50 billion in cash reserves and has a market capitalization of $282 billion while Sony has a market cap of $34 billion. Financially Sony is within Apple’s reach.”
MacDailyNews Take: Pretty much anything is within Apple reach if they want it badly enough. And these sort of rumors are to be expected after Jobs’ comments regarding Apple’s $51 billion cash pile during last Monday’s conference call.
Bagh reports, “It is surmised that Apple is primarily targeting Sony’s gaming segment which includes its PlayStation line of products. Apple lacks a significant presence in the gaming industry where Microsoft, with its Xbox line of products, and Nintendo are major players. Sony’s PlayStation console has been used by it to piggy-back its other products like Blu-Ray player as it has adopted HD technology on its gaming console. The gaming platform can fit into Apple’s model as it can leverage the product to augment game offerings on its iPhone and iPad devices. Also Sony’s TV line of products can be used by Apple to complement its Apple TV.”
MacDailyNews Take: Apple lacks a significant presence in the console gaming industry. The handheld gaming industry is another story entirely: Apple’s iOS devices surpass Sony PSP, close in on Nintendo DS, in U.S. gaming – September 15, 2010
Bagh reports, “Another area which could be appealing to Apple is Sony’s semiconductor business as Apple attempts to closely integrate its hardware with the software. Sony has developed a new CELL processor with Toshiba and IBM which enhances multi-media performance and vector calculation devices… However, Sony is a diversified company with interests in electronics, gaming, media and financial services. Thus an overall Sony portfolio would not fit into Apple’s strategy. Also Sony is a key Google partner; it recently released Google-TV powered HDTV models. Though Sony comes with multiple appendages that Apple will have to deal with, whether Apple has the sufficient managerial strength to absorb and turnaround a beleaguered corporate [entity] like Sony is suspect.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Sounds like somebody’s pumping some SNE.