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http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/06/19/could.google.buy.apple/

New York Mag: Could Google buy Apple?

updated 03:05 am EDT, Tue June 19, 2007

Could Google buy Apple?

A lengthy piece in New York Magazine that profiles Steve Jobs, the history Apple Computer Inc. and the current status of Apple Inc. opines that Google will buy Apple. A purported quote from one of Steve Jobs' neighbors reads "I think that Google is going to buy Apple. It would be a victory for Apple; they�d get major-league partners, money, and engineers. And it would be a victory for Steve�a huge win that lets him leave the stage.' The article's author thinks that this speculation is made plausible by the fact that Google CEO Eric Schmidt is now on the Apple board; engineers at the two companies are collaborating on Google Maps for the iPhone; as well as the YouTube deal for Apple TV. "But is there any reason to think that in such a merger Jobs wouldn�t wind up as CEO�or, at least, chairman of the board?" the magazine asks.

by MacNN Staff

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seamuskrat
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06/19, 05:35am | report spam | close Reply |
New York Magazine

Its the New York magazine not New Yorker. Similar name but different.

http://nymag.com/

http://nymag.com/news/features/33524/

jarod
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06/19, 05:48am | report spam | close Reply |
I think

someone's smoking too much crack at the New Yorker or is really really really bored.

LouZer
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06/19, 06:30am | report spam | close Reply |
OMG!

Yes, that's right! It's gots to be true, because, as we know, A purported quote from one of Steve Jobs' neighbors

And after that, is this a member of the board, or someone in business who has knowledge of what's going on? Or is it that, if they couldn't get Steve's barber, they asked his neighbors for an opinion. (And then took the opinion other then "I can't stand living next to that guy. There's this glow coming from his house every night from his RDF, so bright you'd think its daylight or something. I can't sleep!"

DocZ
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06/19, 06:36am | report spam | close Reply |
Better not...

Google is most probably not my friend. The company's information monopoly is the most scary and dangerous thing since the invention of the atomic bomb. They could already now change the whole world's information flow almost as they like--heavily influencing the sciences, global economy, and politics, and so on. (Not to speak of what will possible in the near future if Google grows at that rate.)

If Google buys Apple, I'll switch to GNU/Linux. Take my word for it.

Noscito
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06/19, 06:47am | report spam | close Reply |
they got strong arguments

If you want to pull off a merger that size you need to have strong arguments: 1. For Steve to be able to quit work 2. For Apple to get cash... (they are so poor they need cash asap) 3. For Apple to get more engineers (like Microsoft, they proved that more engineers means better and faster software) hmm I'm not conviced, but I bet stakeholders are persuaded right away....

Cubester
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06/19, 06:45am | report spam | close Reply |
Ask your neighbors

I asked mine, and they didn't have a clue.

jpellino
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06/19, 07:03am | report spam | close Reply |
nonsense.

google is platform independent, they don't need to be tied to apple. This would be like shell oil announcing they're buying BMW. apple is cash-rich. google is cash-rich. no reason to merge, not even from the stockholders' standpoint. if apple wants to leverage their work with google, start by (1) using the ad power and (2) pushing QT as the google / youtube default format rather than flash-first (shudder) the only thing google would like from apple is their past two years' share growth. the only thing apple wants from google is their share price. putting the two companies together at this point does not result in a company with the past two years' growth and today's share price. everything they want from each other can be done as partners without betting the company on an industry as capricious as tech. just ask time warner.

Peter Bonte
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06/19, 07:56am | report spam | close Reply |
re: nonsense

totally agree, just partnering is much better for now. Its a whole other matter when the two company's get about the same size, a merger wouldn't be so bad then and Steve can safely retire. The iPhone and osX on PC can make this happen!

Hugmup
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06/19, 08:19am | report spam | close Reply |
Hohum

I don't see how either company would benefit from such a deal. Apple doesn't need a cash infusion, and Google is doing fine. The deal would only introduce risk.

However, if Google were to buy Apple, they'd make it an autonomous subsidiary. Otherwise they'd be killing the goose that laid the golden egg, and business is all about golden eggs. That means it would have zero impact on Apple's customers.

whelkboy
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Joined: May 2003

-1

06/19, 08:23am | report spam | close Reply |
Off topic

I don't normally comment off topic but does anybody else find those Orange adverts setting the scroll every ten seconds or so really INFURIATING.

If these adverts stay, I'm not going to be reading MacNN for a while. :o(

ZinkDifferent
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06/19, 08:28am | report spam | close Reply |
neighbors...

...oh, right, so somehow neighbors, by virtue of living next to someone, are now, somehow, authorities on their business model? Interesting logic, there, New Yorker. If I were subscribed, I'd have cancelled by now.

gikku
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06/19, 08:42am | report spam | close Reply |
orange ads

try Adblock plug-in (and updater) for Firefox, no more orange ads.

Guest
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06/19, 09:01am | report spam | close Reply |
Quality reporting

Way to stick it to those factinistas.

ClevelandAdv
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06/19, 09:24am | report spam | close Reply |
I'll buy Apple

Hey add me to the list....Google, Sony, Dell, MS, IBM, Sun, GE, Atari.....

LouZer
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06/19, 09:29am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: orange ads

For a minute there, I was looking around going "What the h*** is this guy talking about?" Then I realized its the ads I don't see.

If you're using safari, use pithhelmet (not even close to good as adblock for firefox, but it works).

Clive
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Joined: Jan 2001

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06/19, 10:00am | report spam | close Reply |
Orange

Not seeing any problems with scroll resetting - what browser/OS are you using?

Clive
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06/19, 10:02am | report spam | close Reply |
Right, who's next?

clevelandadv has it about right, Apple as a target for takeover is a staple of tech news sights - who hasn't been partnered up in such a scenario?

redwood
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06/19, 10:18am | report spam | close Reply |
AOL anyone?

This would be the stupidest merger since AOL TimeWarner.

Apple would go to s***.

hayesk
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06/19, 10:27am | report spam | close Reply |
Ads?

I don't see these ads people are talking about.

As for ad-blockers, would you rather pay for MacNN? No, then don't block the ads. MacNN gets paid from them, not us.

shmoolie
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Joined: May 2002

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06/19, 11:00am | report spam | close Reply |
Are we back in 1999?

Seriously. I read the article and thought I had gone back in time. NY Mag makes it sound like Apple is in dire straights and they quote a neighbor of Job's as their source? Are they serious?

cblackmo
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06/19, 11:06am | report spam | close Reply |
ever heard of Corrections

Obviously we excuse all the grammatical mistakes that MacNN articles contain (afterall it's not as if MacNN should be held to the same standard as professional journalism).

However, it is disappointing when the disregard for accuracy goes as far as misnaming well-honored publications such as The New Yorker and New York Magazine.

Is it too taxing on our attempt at dialogue to request to ask that corrections be posted? I can hear my high school English teacher "tsk-tsk"-ing.

Guest
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06/19, 11:13am | report spam | close Reply |
Not a New Yorker article

Consider correcting the attribution here, if possible. New York magazine is a wildly different magazine than The New Yorker, in contentand credibility (w.r.t non-fiction).

Mis-attributing these two is like citing "People" for The Economist.

Titanium Man
Forum Regular

Joined: Mar 2001

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06/19, 11:24am | report spam | close Reply |
Steve

What makes the neighbor think Steve wants to "leave the stage" ? Steve is a control freak. Apple is his baby. He founded it. He wouldn't give it up for all the money in the world.

As for New York magazine, hey, I like it. Yes, it's different from the New Yorker, but I've never been able to get into the latter's highfalutin style. New York gives me a much better feel for what's happening in New York, although I don't like their obsession with celebrities.

lkrupp
Junior Member

Joined: May 2001

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06/19, 11:31am | report spam | close Reply |
I read th whole atricle.

I read the entire article this morning after seeing a link to it on MacSurfer. It's just musings by an author with too much time on his hands. It's basically a hatchet job on Apple and Steve Jobs claiming he has reached his peak and it's all down hill from now on. The iPod is doomed (where have we heard that before), the iPhone will flop. In other words, just in case something bad happens, the author can pound his chest and say "I said it first!"

Apparently the author tried to get an interview with Jobs and was rebuffed years ago so it's speculation time, the author's imagination let loose on the reader, all EIGHT pages of it.

chas_m
Moderator

Joined: Aug 2001

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06/19, 11:54am | report spam | close Reply |
Dumb

This is what high-priced ANALysts waste your time and money on -- wet-dream scenarios that are highly unlikely.

Neither Apple NOR Google would gain ANYTHING from such a deal that they don't already have in their partnership. This is a total non-story about a non-event.

Oh and whelkboy -- don't know what ads you're talking about. Get a flash blocker already!

rubaiyat
Dedicated MacNNer

Joined: Feb 2006

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06/19, 12:17pm | report spam | close Reply |
Have to ask Bill Gates

According to my neighbour he bought it back in 1998.

tvalleau
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06/19, 01:20pm | report spam | close Reply |
Where's the $ coming from

Apple is the 121st largest company in the US. Google is the 241st. Apple is market capped at over $100 Billion. Exactly what is Google going to use to buy Apple? Smiles and good wishes? Dumb article gets dumber as you look at it. Shades of yesteryear....

psdenno
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06/19, 01:30pm | report spam | close Reply |
My neighbor....

thinks that Google is going to buy New York Magazine as it begins its move from on-line information domination into the field of "pie in the sky" journalism.

hokizpokis
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06/19, 03:01pm | report spam | close Reply |
worthless

just another worthless speculation

post here are macnn

I have to admit it's more interesting to read the rants

then this c***

mlowe969
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06/19, 03:13pm | report spam | close Reply |
That would suck a**

How many CIA and NSA operatives have to resign from their respective divisions telling us that Google is own and operated by the government before we pay attention? Google first VC round was a known CIA side company. Google is building a huge data center in Seattle right next to the NSA headquarters. Men have been giving up their entire careers to tell us these facts, and yet the entire world is more than willing to upload their entire lives into Google's servers. From mail, to spreadsheet data, etc. If Apple sells to Google, Steve will have violated every fiber of his hippy self just to make a buck.

timdjohn
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06/19, 04:52pm | report spam | close Reply |
h*** has not frozen over

If this did ever happen i would be forced to abandon Apple after 20 years. I distrust everything Google. But I am not going to worry as this story is ridiculous and so far fetched. Perhaps they thought this up as they are running out of ideas to make Gates even more stressed

anthology123
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Joined: Nov 2000

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06/19, 07:54pm | report spam | close Reply |
Steve leave Apple?

Why if Google would buy Apple and let Steve Jobs retire? Big of me to say, but Steve Jobs IS Apple. Without him, there is nothing but another maker of consumer products. Look what happened during the time he was out of Apple to when he took over again and compare.

manalagi
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06/19, 08:59pm | report spam | close Reply |
On crack is right

After all, isn't Apple also partnering with Yahoo! for email on the iPhone? Just because you can run Google Maps on Safari on iPhone that doesn't mean a merger is in the works. Besides, both companies have market caps of about $160b. That would make a merger of equals unlikely. It would also invite antitrust scrutiny eventually. If anything, I think with all the rumors of a Yahoo! buyout circulating, it would make more sense for Apple to buy Yahoo! Then convert all Yahoo! properties and users to .Mac, and use it as encouragement to get those people on Macs.

Fast iBook
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06/20, 08:24am | report spam | close Reply |
This person was mad...

This dude was mad because someone sold him the brooklyn bridge for 2 dollars. Went home sad and frustrated, so to lift his spirits, wrote a fantasy short story about 2 infotech companies. If anything i agree with apple buying Yahoo. It would give them a very large IM/email/news user base, and if they didn't fiddle with it too much allow them to gain mindshare, and eventually market-share with those folks. Also, MS will then be forced to compete with google and apple for news, searching, and e-mail. We all know mac, ipod, and osx is better than anything msft, so i have a feeling msft would focus on competing with google. Not gonna happen, but it would work.

purpleshorts
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06/20, 08:45am | report spam | close Reply |
Different Companies

They're very different businesses, with very different problems. Google sells ad space, and some application software. Apple sells hardware, and OS level software. Apple's got people in plants exposed to god knows what chemicals with this or that labor problem and supply problems and distribution issues... Google has no worries in comparison. They're both exciting to watch, but they are very, very different. I don't see it happening, any more than the GAP would buy Apple. In fact, the GAP would make more sense.

Terrin
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06/20, 09:44am | report spam | close Reply |
No chance

There is not a chance of this happening ( at least anytime soon). As another person said, the companies market caps are close to one another. That would make Apple a very expensive purchase.

Moreover, what would the advantage to Google or Apple be? Google doesn't want to be tied to a platform. Google and Apple merely make good partners because they both have the same enemy and their products complement one another.

ThunkDifferent.com
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Joined: Apr 2007

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06/20, 10:40am | report spam | close Reply |
interesting

This is something that people think about, but i have never really seen it layed out this nicely before. It is doubtful, but anything is possible.

http://ThunkDifferent.com

Loren
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06/21, 12:33am | report spam | close Reply |
Buying who?

[If anything i agree with apple buying Yahoo. It would give them a very large IM/email/news user base, and if they didn't fiddle with it too much allow them to gain mindshare]

Yes, but Yahoo has absolutely no TASTE. lol

Apple OTOH could easily buy Google.

I always thought in the dark ages, XEROX should buy Apple, and close the circle.

just a poster
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Joined: Jun 2004

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06/23, 11:35pm | report spam | close Reply |
Since when does idle

speculation by some loser whose crowning lifetime achievement is a $35k/year job in the New York Times constitute analysis?

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New York Mag: Could Google buy Apple?

updated 03:05 am EDT, Tue June 19, 2007

Could Google buy Apple?

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Recent Articles

New York Magazine

I think

OMG!

Better not...

they got strong arguments

Ask your neighbors

nonsense.

re: nonsense

Hohum

Off topic

neighbors...

orange ads

Quality reporting

I'll buy Apple

Re: orange ads

Orange

Right, who's next?

AOL anyone?

Ads?

Are we back in 1999?

ever heard of Corrections

Not a New Yorker article

Steve

I read th whole atricle.

Dumb

Have to ask Bill Gates

Where's the $ coming from

My neighbor....

worthless

That would suck a**

h*** has not frozen over

Steve leave Apple?

On crack is right

This person was mad...

Different Companies

No chance

interesting

Buying who?

Since when does idle

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