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Apple Reportedly Considering Huge Investment In Twitter

Posted by Soulskill on from the keeping-up-with-the-googses dept.

The NY Times reports that Apple has internally discussed an investment into Twitter to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. From the article: "There is no guarantee that the two companies, which are not in negotiations at the moment, will come to an agreement. But the earlier talks are a sign that they may form a stronger partnership amid intensifying competition from the likes of Google and Facebook. Apple has not made many friends in social media. Its relationship with Facebook, for example, has been strained since a deal to build Facebook features into Ping, Apple's music-centric social network, fell apart. Facebook is also aligned with Microsoft, which owns a small stake in it. And Google, an Apple rival in the phone market, has been pushing its own social network, Google Plus. 'Apple doesn't have to own a social network,' Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said at a recent technology conference. 'But does Apple need to be social? Yes.'"

10 of 90 comments (clear)

  1. What else are they going to do with the cash? by ExploHD · · Score: 4, Interesting

    With all of their assets in the bank, they could do more R&D or they can start absorbing other companies. Looks like we know what their plan is now; I expect Apple technology to be at the same level as everybody else, from here on out.

    1. Re:What else are they going to do with the cash? by Tough+Love · · Score: 4, Insightful

      With all of their assets in the bank, they could do more R&D or they can start absorbing other companies.

      Well, any company with a decent business plan has a P/E too high for even Apple to afford. (Example: Facebook - P/E 125)

      Fallback is to buy cheaper companies with lower margin, thus averaging down their own margin. Brilliant. See, unless the acquistion is diabolically stategic, shareholders would be better off just taking the cash out in dividends. And Apple hasn't been showing a whole lot of brilliance lately.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    2. Re:What else are they going to do with the cash? by knuthin · · Score: 5, Funny

      ...rather than buying startups like Microsoft. Time will tell.

      I had to read this twice. You probably meant "rather than buying startups, like Microsoft does."

      --
      Some apps are WYSIWYG. Some others are WYSIWTF.
  2. Anyone here by darkfeline · · Score: 5, Funny

    actually use twitter? In my mind, all it is is vendor-locked-down RSS feeds for monkeys with short attention spans. Does that intersect with Apple's userbase at all?

    1. Re:Anyone here by Tom · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Finally a like mind!

      I've never understood what the whole Twitter fad is all about. For SMS messages, at least the length limit has a technical purpose. For artistic reasons, extreme limits sometimes work as well. But for expressing thoughts or anything?

      It's a cute idea gone horribly wrong, in my eyes. But apparently, in a world where ADD is cool, it's exactly what the monkeys want.

      If anything, Twitter is living reminder that I don't understand the world anymore. I simply don't get it, and I don't understand how the company can be worth more than, say, the pub down the street.

      --
      Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
  3. Great by undulato · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now I'll _have_ on to Google plus..

  4. Re:How about they improve the Finder instead? by Tough+Love · · Score: 4, Funny

    I heard that Apple plans to introduce a one-button keyboard.

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  5. Why? by caffemacchiavelli · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I fail to see anything but Dutch tulips in this. What can Apple possibly gain here, in real terms, not "Uhm we need to be social" lingo?

    I could understand Google's, FB's, even MS' interest; they all found ways to monetize eyeballs, even though FB is still trying to mature and Bing seems to be moving backwards. But Apple? They sell high-end hipster equipment. What do they need a free SMS spamming service for? I can already tell the world what I had for breakfast and which mobile device I elected to publish this momentous bit of information with, I'm not sure more integration will make my customer experience better in any meaningful way.

  6. Re:How about they improve the Finder instead? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah: and the button is called "PAY"

  7. Re:Huge? Not exactly by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Oh, I'm reasonably sure Twitter would find a way to quickly burn through it. These internet startups don't seem to manage for the long term at all - and why should they, since the founders' intent is usually to maximize profit and then cash out?

    --
    #DeleteChrome