“There were many responses from the Facebook – Instagram deal,” Eric Jackson reports for Forbes. “One of the more interesting ones to emerge at the end of last week was Phil Schiller’s response via 9to5Mac. The SVP of Marketing for Apple has deleted his Instagram account and declared that Instagram had jumped the shark.”
“There is a narrative that Apple likes to advance which is that the best and most apps are on the iOS platform compared to others,” Jackson reports. “Instagram was another ‘poster child’ app that Apple could use in this story. It was (is) the top mobile photo sharing app. It was beautiful. And it started on iOS and – up until a couple of weeks ago – wasn’t available on any other platform. Then it launched on Android and – a couple of days later – it was bought by Facebook.”
Jackson writes, “Apple’s strategy with apps to this point has been: let a thousand flowers bloom – we’re Switzerland. It can no longer be… Essentially, if Apple was to buy Twitter today, it would be a play on unleashing iAd – although perhaps not for 5 years from now in any great monetary fashion… Twitter is beachfront property in the mobile world. It’s a key for iAd to be able to deliver a completely new kind of ad service in the next ten years. And it’s future revenue potential has nothing to do with its revenue last year.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Apple Marketing SVP Phil Schiller dumps Instagram; says app ‘jumped the shark’ after Android launch – April 19, 2012
Facebook buys Instagram for $1 billion in cash and stock – April 9, 2012
“Here we go again, everyone spending Apple’s money for them.” – Everybody that’s about to comment on this article.
(And I do hate it when writers try spending Apple’s money for page hits, for the record.)
Must everything be ads and such ? Facebook, Google, Twitter, my local bus system, telemarketers.
and 10 billion dollars ? What is this… Facebook and Microsoft letting the bank account go for what ?
Can’t say I’d be overly bothered regardless of who (if anyone) bought twitter, but it is the one social network that I really make any use of so better apple than someone else I suppose.
I love Twitter. Being self employed, Twitter is like the water cooler I no longer have. Only the people chatting around the water cooler aren’t just coworkers, they’re all these people I admire, people I actually care about, and enjoy hearing what’s on their minds.
Kinda like some of you MDN people with the hostility removed.
Not enough room in a tweet for a truly screws-turning eye-gouging message of hostility – so those jokers migrate here to MDN. Their audience is much less than with Twitter but they can spew cleverly worded insults, to their heart’s content. If they had a heart. Or a head. Or guts. Whatever, some body part is clearly missing from some of these jokers
Problem is that Apple will get terrible publicity for all the crap that gets onto twitter and causes alarm bells around the World. When its small as with YouTube people turn a blind eye but if Apple buys it you watch the shit hit the fan.
Gets really tiring doesn’t it?
People just don’t get it. Apple will let Microsoft or Google waste their money buying crap that doesn’t generate PROFIT while they keep investing in R&D and making what customers want.
Twitter, Facebook don’t use any of them, all I hear is Apple, blah, blah, blah, hit whore journalism.
If they do, please change that stupid-a$$ name! As bad as “Yahoo”! Look up “twit” in the dictionary!
You show significant ignorance of the English language. Look up “twitter” in the dictionary! It is VERY appropriately named.
+1
I really wish these articles were based more on substantiated evidence or knowledge instead of supposition. I suppose I’ll have to stop reading all articles with a question mark in the title!
Shouldn’t Apple turn the Address Book into a LinkedIn-like SM platform first? I hate keeping it up to date.
It’s exactly the kind of Social Media tool that only Apple could deliver. With 100s of millions of users on day one.
“It’s exactly the kind of Social Media tool that only Apple could deliver.”
What, you mean a piece of crap? Apple’s social media attempts so far have been just fantastic successes
I like how he’s so confident Twitter will still be around in five years…
Also, while Apple is in the ad business, I never saw it as a way for them to make tons of money. It was a way to allow devs to make better, smoother ads.
iAd was not meant for the average developer. The original buy-in price was $1 million. It’s now $100,000, but still not practical self-employed developers or small businesses used to web advertising.
iAd is also ONLY for iOS devices, so multi-platform companies would have to not only pay for regular mobile ads, but separately for iAds too.
First thing I ever saw on Twitter was “I am sitting on the front porch.”
That was enough for me.
“That coat of paint sure is taking a long time to dry”
If Tim Cook were to do something so bone-headed, I wouldn’t be the first shareholder to demand his head. And there go his rich stock options.
But we know this won’t happen. Apple’s leaders are not fools.
Buying Twitter? Would never happen. Especially not for $10 billion. How would that make any sense at all? Twitter is neat and handy I guess, but a $10 billion money making business it is not. Apple makes money. They have sold margins. Why would they erode them? To be hip? Not apple’s style, definitely not Tim cook’s style. The man is an engine of efficiency. Twitter would not enhance Apple’s bottom line in any way, and would in fact detract from it considerably.
I think Apple should buy me. I am available for a paltry $1million. And, just like Instagram, I have no prospects for monetizing myself in this age of the social network
🙂
10 Billion? Wow thats like an MS or Google move. Apple doesn’t just blow wads of money like that. I don’t think Twitter is worth 10Billion.
agreed
Internet and web-wise — Apple has missed the boat on those things. It could have bought Yahoo. It could have bought Facebook and it could have bought Adobe – heck maybe even IBM… but why? Does Apple need Tweeter… okay maybe it would like too – but for 10 Billion – Not Apple style.
To those who may be lurking from investment world:
The moment ads are inserted into Twitter it will be deleted from the devices of the very people the admen & women seek. The truth is that there is way too much advertising and ever more intrusive advertising just pisses people off.
I’d gladly pay for less advertising and will walk away from the blizzard of bullshit. Someone needs to teach PR and marketing people that sometimes less is more.
That sounds just like Tim Cook:
“We spend our money like it’s our last penny,”
Yeah, that’s some super reporting.
NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Not gonna happen.
Apple eWorld.
Enough said.
But you want more convincing?
Apple Ping.
More than enough said.