

Why Apple Should Grab Twitter - krambs
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/03/why-apple-should-grab-twitter/

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Tyrannosaurs
So the TL;DR version of the article is "so Apple can become a player in
social" but it never address the question as to whether that's actually
something that Apple would want to / need to do.

To me this move would suck of Microsoft buying Hotmail, or getting into search
or Messenger or any one of the things they go into when the internet started
booming and they worried that they were getting left behind. And what's
happened since? Microsoft have lost money hand over fist on them with little
genuine strategic gain other than saying that they were in those spaces.

Social is a pretty rapidly evolving space at the moment but other than
Facebook is anyone really making money there? Google have made several plays
with limited success, Twitter is interesting but has an unclear business model
and most of the social start ups range from the uninspiring to the niche to
the sort of thing that Facebook is just going to copy and crush if it takes
off.

And even Facebook, anecdotally at least, seems to be getting tired. I hear so
many people talking of irritation with it, drifting away, even closing
accounts. The figures continue to show growth but among the sort of people who
were early adopters I'm personally seeing a complete lack of engagement with
it.

So yes, it would make Apple a player in social but really, is that something
they want?

In terms of keeping it out of the hands of Google or Facebook or whoever, if
you think it's a good acquisition, you should buy it because of that. If you
think it's a bad acquisition then you shouldn't care, in fact you should
probably want them to buy it to have them waste a billion dollars.

Oh, and I loved the idea "they fix Ping and monitize it". Is it just me or is
this MBA speak for "Buy Twitter, ?????, PROFIT!!!".

~~~
joejohnson
I think you're right. Twitter is not profitable. Apple shouldn't buy it in its
current state... But maybe in a few years, if Twitter is on the brink of
bankruptcy, Apple might be able to acquire it for much less. And in the
meantime, Apple still has all the benefits of their strategic partnership as
is currently stands.

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
If it were really on the verge of bankruptcy would it be attractive? That
would pretty much indicate that it had failed as a venture so why would Apple
want it?

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NameNickHN
> No, I am not suggesting Apple buy Facebook. (Zuckerberg has his own path to
> travel, and it does not go through Cupertino).

Who is this guy? Yoda? Or Nostradamus?

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josephmosby
Ritholtz doesn't say it, but I would add "and then they should put Jack Dorsey
on the fast track to CEO."

Dorsey's one of the few CEOs out there who looks like he could be the next
Jobs. I'm not saying he's ready to run Apple yet - but it might not take long
before he is.

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revorad
Honest question: How can Facebook compete with Apple?

~~~
div
I have the same question.

I don't see buying Twitter as being very useful to Apple. Just because Apple,
Google and Facebook are 3 of the largest tech giants at the moment doesn't
mean they directly compete.

What's more, if the assumption is that Apple isn't very good at social, then
the only thing they achieve by acquiring Twitter is to suddenly make
themselves a straight competitor in a field where they have little expertise.

I don't see it making sense, but maybe I'm just being shortsighted :)

~~~
TheCondor
Seems their expertise is being measured by ping and the fact that it's not fb
sized or twitter sized.

How does twitter fit with their products and strategy? It just seems sort of
expensive when they can partner with those companies and have most of the same
benefits

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replicatorblog
Lets not forget that Apple already owns three of the most popular social
"Apps"

\- iMessage

\- Phone

\- Mail

Because they come stock on the device, they don't show up on leaderboards or
get called out on user numbers, but is there any doubt that those would be the
three most used apps if they were?

iMessage especially has a chance to eclipse Twitter if Apple continues to
build it out. If you define social as asymmetrical social web services Apple
absolutely doesn't get it. If you count actual conversations, text and media
messages, and long form emails/letters, they seem to be doing alright.

~~~
MatthewPhillips
Apple doesn't own phone calls or email. They have apps for them, like they
have an app for twitter.

~~~
rdl
Apple owns iMessages, which might be more important than any other IM network
soon, and are already pretty widely used. It wouldn't be too hard to own phone
calls the same way (a truly seamless g.722 voice call over lte and wifi would
be great. I hate the audio quality of anything but wideband, especially gsm.
Plus conference calling and routing features to put google voice to shame)

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guelo
That would be horrible for twitter. The thought of putting such a
revolutionary communication product under the control of one of the most
secretive and unresponsive companies around makes me shudder.

~~~
rbarooah
Unresponsive to what? Their results suggest that they are making things people
want.

~~~
guelo
Unresponsive to user feedback and complaints. Nowadays you can't even hope for
a random Steve Jobs email.

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
Unresponsive to some feedback and complaints, however the fact that the iPhone
and Mac have industry leading customer satisfaction figures suggest that
they're doing something right in this area.

The correct response to a customer asking or complaining about something isn't
always to do exactly what they ask. To do so may impact on something that
everyone else who is currently being quiet values in it's current form.

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every1
"Sure, iTunes software is terrific"

It is? I don't use it, I find it too be to heavy.

~~~
cgarvey
Too heavy for what? Playing music? Sure, yeah it's way too heavy for just
that. You have to consider all of its functionality and why it was made
though.

Movies, music, podcasts, radio, TV, device syncing, iTunes store...etc.

Terrific I guess is a subjective thing, but considering what the software does
for so many people that want/need to use it, I'd say that it HAS to be
terrific.

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GGNH
I'd be interested in seeing what the acquisition would do to apple's stock
price

