No Conversation Without Apple

I'm sure many of you are probably sick of hearing about Apple by now - the company seems to come up in just about every conversation concerning business trends and technology - but I wanted to look at the company through a different perspective. In class we've discussed much about what Apple has done right and have consistently set the company as a high standard for the competition (whether that be Google in the smartphone arena or Dell in computing). Yet we've also observed how numerous companies that were once at the top of their game crash and burn, and have discussed the need for constant innovation that sometimes pushes beyond the boundaries of what a company deems "safe". So with that said comes the question, how much should Apple be worrying about competition, and what markets should they expand into?

To put it bluntly, right now Apple is on top of the world; Apple is the most valuable publicly traded company, and it sets the trends for technology and design in a variety of product areas (computers, music players, smartphones, etc.). Through the company's success, it has managed to amass a staggering $100 billion in cash - an amount that many think the company should use towards continuing its domination in all things technology. The article, Should Apple Buy Twitter? by Matthew Ingram, discusses some of the potential benefits and disadvantages of Apple dipping into some of its cash buildup to buy the social giant Twitter.

As powerful as Apple is in the area of personal electronics and creative design, it does not really have much going for it in the social software area. As websites like Twitter and Facebook practically determine the way we interact with each other and share information in this digital age, I think that Apple really needs to make some moves and build up its presence in the social field. The article makes some great points concerning Apple - its main competitors in the future are likely to be Google and Facebook, not the standard computer companies of today. Furthermore, Apple's current offerings could benefit greatly from increased social connectivity - the iOS's expansive selection of apps, the iTunes huge amount of music offerings - if Apple invests in networks that foster discussion about its products and attaches an even greater sense of social identity to partaking in an "Apple experience", it could be virtually untouchable.

The article does bring up a few issues to this proposed buyout though. For one, it could hurt Apple's attempts to strike a deal with Facebook. It also begs the question, considering Apple's generally restrictive ("overly-protective parent") attitude towards its software, does an open network like Twitter really fit into the company's approach? Personally, I believe that it may be in Apple's best interests to go head on against Facebook rather than trying to appease them. Apple has sought out numerous deals with Facebook that have fallen through, like an integration with Facebook and Apple's not-so-successful Ping. It seems that Facebook aims to keep on growing, and it has already made strides into the social music with Spotify integration. I can see Facebook continuing to oppose Apple and to branch out into areas that directly compete with Apple's offerings. On this note, Apple will just have to step its game up and make sure that its offerings are top-of-the-line in all areas, including social integration.

Yet, as we've discussed in class, it's not often too easy to see if anything needs to be done when your company is performing so well. Apple has been incredibly successful doing things its own way for the last decade, and it seems to be on quite a good path for the near-future. Would it really make sense for Apple to go against its established culture (in terms of software offerings and purchasing decisions) to buyout Twitter? I believe that it would be in the company's best interest to thrust itself into the social software arena (although with the direct aid of key players - Google+ is a great example of an amazing company struggling to gain a foothold in an already crowded market), to really become involved in the means through which people have conversations and share information. What do you think?