“Calls for Apple to buy Netflix are getting louder. Instead of evaluating whether Apple should buy Netflix, a more valuable question is whether or not Apple actually needs to buy Netflix to accomplish its goals,” Neil Cybart writes for Above Avalon. “Upon closer examination, it becomes clear that calls to buy Netflix are misplaced as Apple is chasing after something entirely different in the video streaming space.”
“In essence, Netflix is like Spotify. Apple could acquire Netflix and instantly become the leader in paid video streaming,” Cybart writes. “However, there is evidence that Apple is instead looking for something different. Apple is searching for another ‘Jimmy Iovine,’ new connections and relationships with Hollywood.”
Eddy CueMacDailyNews Take: Apple bought Beats for Jimmy Iovine because Steve Jobs is dead and Eddy Cue couldn’t do the deals and/or didn’t have the connections and/or didn’t have the knowledge required for music streaming. Now, as the current state of Apple TV so glaringly displays, because Steve Jobs is dead and Eddy Cue can’t do the deals and/or doesn’t have the connections and/or doesn’t have the knowledge required for video streaming, Apple needs to buy another “Jimmy Iovine.”
So, in a nutshell: You have a job to do. You can’t do your job, so the company pays billions to acquire talent that can. Yet, you not only keep your job, but the company inexplicably attempts to drown you in RSUs. What a great gig!
Eddy Cue’s photo is the illustration for the dictionary definition of “failing upward.”
“According to The Financial Times, Tim Cook and Eddy Cue discussed a range of possibilities with Imagine Entertainment, founded by Ron Howard and Grazer, including a possible acquisition. The takeaway from those talks doesn’t revolve around Apple getting its hands on an existing content portfolio,” Cybart writes. “Rather it focuses on bringing people on board to come up with new ideas.”
What is unique about Netflix? A handful of TV series are not worth $40 billion. Apple is perfectly capable of taking on Netflix without having to buy them, deal with integrating their employees, etc.
Until Apple actually buys Netflix, we’ll keep saying that Apple will buy Netflix for the same reason they bought Palm.
