Apple to buy Yahoo?

There have been rumors, albiet weak rumors, that Apple may be considering buying Yahoo. One of these rumors teams up Newscorp with Apple in the purchase. Some of the reasons given for the reason for Apple to want Yahoo include the following. Apple could use Yahoo to expand the .Mac vision which Apple has yet to see take off. Apple would have an automatic inroad into China for marketing all of its products. And the idea that Apple feels it could fix the search engine business.

Personally, I don't give this idea any credence based on how Apple operates in the past. They are the new product dreamers. Yahoo seems to be a hodgepodge of almost good online products. It would take a super organizer to sort through the Yahoo mess and find what is of value and what is a wasted effort. Apple doesn't fix other peoples messes. They start from scratch and fix things from the ground up.

Now for the contrarian view. How would Apple benefit from having Yahoo? They have a large customer base, which may not be as big as Google but is still quite large. So if Apple did buy Yahoo, would they just rewrite how the company operates into the Apple way of doing business? Simplifying their core business to a handful of functions. This may be plausible, but can Apple even be in the running to buy Yahoo if the deep pockets of MS are there to easily outbid Apple. But buyouts are not just the highest bidder. Yahoo stockholders may feel that in the long run, Apple would generate more money for Yahoo than the initial jump if MS buys them. And what would this do to the relationship with Google?

It is an interesting proposition, which if Apple jumps into would change the type of company they are once again.

Blue Ray Triumphs!

Well, Stitch, my wish has come true - Blue Ray is the next generation DVD standard! It is exciting, but obviously one needs the high definition TV to go with it! Do you guys have one? I'm hoping that with Blue Ray victorious, it might spur more High Def Tv purchases and drive the price down more. What do you guys think?

Leopard Update and Apple

I had to share this with you guys. Apple just issued a huge update of Leopard, and I can't help but say how happy I am to be a Mac Fanatic. With the first release of Leopard, Apple introduced the "stacks" idea for the dock - click on a folder, and the contents would either "fan" out or produce a square grid, and you could pick any item within. Apple was roundly criticized because they took away the nice ability to navigate through embedded folders like you could in Tiger.

Here's what I love - Apple put the functionality back in, and they made it even BETTER! Now, you have your choice of doing list view, fan view, grid view, navigating folders, etc., and it's even FASTER than before! People do criticize Apple, and sometimes those criticisms are well founded, but Apple does respond to their users. I find that time and again!

By the way, on my way to ASU, I saw a student carrying a Macbook Air to class just like a regular textbook. We actually played with one at the Apple Store. They are indeed as light and thin as advertised. It will be interesting to see how it is adopted. Seeing a student with a Macbook Air already gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling, though!

RIM files "multitouch" patent

Well, gents, I believe this harkens the era of first real competition for the iPhone. RIM just filed a multitouch patent, with the intent that the technology would show up in their phones. RIM already makes excellent smart phones, and I think they are the ones who can give Apple some real competition. I do believe, however, that Apple has incredible leverage with its software prowess and head start. This really is a good thing, because I think great technologies will come out of this. What's your take?

Garmin amazes with iPhone like cell phone

Have you seen the cell phone that Garmin has developed? It actually looks pretty cool and seems to be well designed. It has a touch screen and leverages Garmin's experience with GPS. They also support 3G technology. Who would have guessed that Garmin would produce such a cool phone. Jumping from GPS navigations systems to cell phones. Of course the devil is in the details. Right now it seems pictures are all that is available to review. No mention of price. Could this be real competition to the iPhone. Probably more so than the standard cell phone makers. But of course by the time this phone hits the market, the next generation iPhone will be released with more features. Probably including 3G.


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Microsoft takeover of Yahoo

Have you guys heard the news? Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo in a hostile takeover bid. There were talks before that broke down, but now Microsoft wants to take Yahoo. Supposedly Jerry Yang, founder and current CEO, wants to maintain Yahoo's independence. Microsoft wants to take them over because it would help them compete with Google. Is this a good idea? I can't help but dislike Microsoft swallowing up more of the competition. What's your take?