I'll buy iPhone if Google doesn't buy Apple

I'm afraid of the whole technology thing. Where's it headed? What will Jimbo Wales do with all the mammoth power of Wikipedia eventually? Are we going to see AT&T signs in an Orwellian world not in the very far future, hovering above us like the Big Brother? And Google, what else? From a banged-up server to a matrix-like network of servers all around the world. Then they bought one of the biggest networks of human beings on the net. you know, youtube. They have 2 of the 3 things needed to have immense power, over the net, over the people. they have the people, they have the means of connecting them. if they acquire Apple then they'll have everything needed to do whatever they want. but this comment has been diverted from it's actual course. I just want to ask a question: is it really a possibility? Google buying Apple?

Now that's probably the only thing that'll make me stay away from Apple products.

I enjoyed reading your concerns Nuri. Let's take a quick swag at some of those:

Mountains of cash and gigantic size are not necessarily what Apple should want to achieve.

Unlikely, since that is completely counter-cultural to Apple. Money yes, size no.

If Apple becomes just another consumer electronics company, I wonder what would make me buy an Apple instead of a Vaio.

All those things you listed above in your posting that you like about Apple should be sufficient I would think - given that you are on Apple and not Vaio now, right?

iPhone is riddled with flaws as far as my personal needs are concerned. Battery life is the number one issue. I charge my BlackBerry once a week and it has never failed me. I'd be happy to charge my iPhone twice a week, but will even that suffice? I would not want to be left with iPhone driving from Vegas to LA or when weathering a snowstorm in Boulder.

And yet the iPhone, with the notable exception of currently not supporting 3rd party apps addresses the BB market squarely - even though it is not yet even in production. Kind of like seeing a truly attractive woman and saying yeah, she beautiful but she's not a brain surgeon and she doesn't golf at 3 under par - without actually having spent time with her. Rather unfair wouldn't you say?

And finally as far as Google is concerned, Apple is highly capitalized and is probably very heavily poison-pilled to prevent that sort take-over from happening. Google culture and Apple culture are not necessarily compatible, but being able to work together is a good thing - building on each other's cachet. You all but ignored Yahoo in the process, why not fear their attempt to buy-out Apple as well? In either case they are not interested in owning a computer/electronics firm, it's not properly aligned with their model.

Thanks for your post!

Thanks for tipping me Nuri. I'm logging in to buy as much Apple stock as I can. I do hope Google buys Apple.

Apple is safe from Google. Anti-trust ladies and gents. If Google wants to get into the hardware business they're going to have to do it the old fashioned way. Given their size and profile I'd be amazed if the SEC let merger go through.

i've noticed recently that google and apple do indeed seem to be headed in similar directions.

the most immediate thing that i'd like apple and google to do is connect the google calendar with ical. ical sucks, but it has great potential, and would be wonderful if it were a window to google's calendar rather than this proprietary half-wit of an application that only really works with itself.

i dont see google doing anything with apple, tho. google's business plan seems to be content management. searching for and within content, viewing content in different forms, sharing content, advertising content, etc. apple is a product-driven operation.

google's growth in 2006 was interesting, to say the least. i'm slightly encouraged by what seems to be google sort of trying to step back from the unchallenged and reckless growth it's being pulled towards. it's made changes to how it presents its search results. its acquisition of jotspot seems to be headed to its first update (integration with google docs and calendar is my expectation). they were getting evil, or at least knocking on evil's door, but i think they've checked themselves and are trying to do the right thing.

i didnt watch the keynote address, but i trust your reaction RE body language, etc. that is worrisome. but lets remember that apple embraced yahoo's email, not gmail, when promoting that feature of the iphone. something to consider.

Apart from a casual reference to the success of the transition to the Intel line, I heard nothing on the the computer products.

That's because he left everything except the AppleTV out of the Keynote address, to focus entirely on the iPhone. This way, the only thing the media is talking about is the iPhone (with casual mention of the AppleTV).

No new iLife, no new iWork, no holiday quarter results, nothing. Give it some time, and new stuff will be announced.

Meanwhile, don't worry about Google buying Apple. There's no benefit to that (both brands are way strong and unique, a buy/merger would dilute both) and I know Jobs would never sell his company.

One other thought: everyone one assumes that the Google is an online search and services beneficent provider of these services. This is only a surface scratch. Dig deeper and you will find a well-heeled advertising-driven organization that is the real model for what they are doing. The services provide the inroad into the user base that drives advertising revenue for Google which is where it gains its most significant source of capital. This is its success.

As for the comment that Apple is trying to placate Cingular with its tight controls and playing to their whims, you have not obviously watched Mr. Jobs in action much. Any former partner will tell you that a partnership with Apple is very much like having a tiger by the tail. Watch the next year or so as things develop, or better go back and study previous partnerships. Don't assume that Apple is not aggressive in its stance with it's partners - no other phone maker has been successful in driving development within a carrier system. Same for Google and Yahoo. Apple is not a comfortable nor placatory partner and will always act in its own best interest. But people assume because it is small, certainly smaller than Microsoft for example that they do not have the right to be aggressive. Microsoft is allowed because, as once noted in a fantasy story, "...well of course the giant stepped on him! He is a giant after all and can't be bothered with people who insist on getting underfoot!"

I don't think Google will buy Apple - your article did prompt a much more in-depth reply which I turned into my own article: Will Google buy OSX from Apple?

interesting article.

True, as Google gets huge, one worries that it will lose its nimbleness. It seems an ever repeating cycle. Like Yahoo, or Microsoft before that.

But have faith, web innovation is becoming truly inexpensive, thus there should always be new Googles or at least new great ideas on the horizon.

I understand your concern, I agree with you that one of the things that help apple remain the cool, niche company it is is precisely the fact that they have remained small.

I would recommend you look at two things:

• First of all, I don't think it's Mr. Jobs wish to keep Apple as a small niche company anymore. He's trying to make it a mainstream consumer electronic shop. And he doesn't need any help from google in order to do it. Look at it's latest announced products: the Apple TV and the IPhone (or whatever it will be called after the suit). Of course, we can't leave the IPod out of this mix. While there has been strong innovation in the traditional computing side of business, I don't think this will have a less important role in the revenue stream of the company in years to come
• Second, it's a big, big leap for google to buy apple. At the moment I post this comment, Apple's market cap was 80 billion. Google's was 153 billion. Let's assume they are able to liquidate half of their net worth and invest it in Apple, would they? I see it very unlikely