TiVo buy \"highly unlikely\"

Smith Barney said this afternoon that a buyout of TiVo by Apple was contradictory to recent comments from Apple senior management and said "we strongly believe Apple has . "Based on Apple's commentary, we believe a deal is highly unlikely," said Smith Barney. "Specifically, Apple had two points that lead us to discount the current reports. First, it appears as though Apple want to stay focused on selling select proven products (e.g. iPod) rather than gambling on unknown initiatives. ... Second, Apple indicated that the DVR market seems to be a commodity whereby all players will eventually have similar hardware and software longer term, which means that the DVR market really boils down to marketing and branding. Apple clearly already has a strong brand and would not gain much from acquiring TiVo." The research firm maintained a "sell" rating and $3.50 target price.

by MacNN Staff