Apple Rumored To Want To Buy Twitter

OSXGlitch writes "A post on TechCrunch this morning extends the rumor that Apple wants to buy Twitter with part of their massive cash reserve (estimated at nearly $29B). The Twitterverse is alive with speculation that the price being discussed is $700 million. This goes against reports that Twitter's founders aren't interested in selling, and that they estimate the value of the company at around $250 million. Two questions: How do we all feel about the possibility of Apple owning Twitter? And, can Twitter decline an offer that is nearly three times their estimated worth?"

Re:Why?

[UnknowingFool]

Well considering this economy they might want to hold onto as much cash as they can. Apple traditionally buys companies that they really use. PA Semi was their last acquisition and it appears that they will design Apple's next iPod/iPhone chips. They bought NeXT and turned it into OS X. They bought the KeyGrip team and product from Macromedia that later became Final Cut. They bought Nothing Real for Shake, Emagic for Garage Band, etc.

Re:I will quit twitter

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't saying SMS service like saying ATM machine?

Re:I will quit twitter

[LaurieDash]

Indeed. For anybody wishing to read more about this prospect it was disucussed recently [slashdot.org].

Re:I will quit twitter

[Liquidrage]

Yes, because right now Jabber = Twitter?
You're confusing "like twitter" with "is twitter". I doubt it's hard to make a cola that tastes a lot better then Coke. At least it wouldn't cost as much as they spend on advertising. But trying to beat them wouldn't work out well because the brand is established.

Re:I will quit twitter

[Yizzerin]

I think your general point has merit, but your examples might not be 100% correct.

We all know how profitable Skype [wikipedia.org] has been for after eBay paid 2.6 Billion dollars for them.

Skype actually has been profitable [skypejournal.com] recently. That said, Skype does not match up well with eBay's overall business model and I remember reading that they are looking to sell it.

Not to even mention how profitable Youtube [wikipedia.org] has been since Google paid a mere 1.65 Billion dollars for them.

Could it be a branding/goodwill tool that also helps them drive users to their search? They certainly paid an exorbitant amount for the eventual profitability, regardless, but Google and YouTube are now both cultural icons.

Re:I will quit twitter

[Firehed]

Nobody at Apple is stupid enough to buy an SMS service.

Actually, when you phrase it like that, it really makes perfect sense. As a micro-messaging service, it wouldn't make much sense as an Apple property. As something to replace SMS, I would actually see it being a very valuable addition to their lineup as an iPhone customer (provided it stays as open as it is now). Apple has already been able to bully AT&T into giving up MUCH more than anyone would have thought possible simply by being so damn successful over the last few years, it's actually not out of the question that they'd want to push that further.

Of note: I won't pay any extra for SMS messages on my iPhone. The concept of paying $0.25 for 160B of data which is built into the cellular service overhead and costs them absolutely nothing to maintain is absurd. $5/mo for unlimited texting is only slightly less insane. I get 200 texts built into my normal plan (first-gen iPhone) which is fine for what I do. However, it would be a fantastic value-add to get around that entirely by, in effect, replacing the SMS app on the phone with a Twitter client of sorts (at least for direct messages) - even if only to spite AT&T. I already use DMs in favor of SMS for my friends that have a twitter account (most of them) simply because it doesn't count towards my text message limit.

There is, of course, no shortage of Twitter apps on the iPhone (nor most smartforms I think; standard phones can still do it over sms) so it's not much of an issue except for the lack of "push" functionality. I don't know how that will be handled in the 3.0 SDK but I doubt it'll be as seamless as SMS and phone calls are since there's the intermediate server that everything funnels through.

If they could pull off something where they go behind the carriers' backs to make it a free, open protocol to contact cellular phones, it would be awesome. Doesn't matter whether it's Twitter or not, but it's already got a large userbase and is well-suited to the application. The only reason that Twitter is even relevant to the picture is that it seems like the only way to, in effect, make SMS free* - as it should be.

*Maybe a buck a month for unlimited. The current situation where bandwidth to the ISS is cheaper goes well beyond ridiculous. I don't think you could use an entire megabyte of bandwidth a month over SMS.