Apple post biggest profits ever.

Is this about the DRM applied to songs/files purchased from iTunes Music Store?

 

This is great do you even know what your talking about ?

ITunes plus came around in 2007 and cost more per track for drm free music . ITunes 7 came out in 2006.

You could buy DRM free music from other companies and put them on your iTunes account using harmony from real player network.

Your happy that Apple delayed you from getting DRM free music for over a year.

You act like apple was the victim here but they happily took millions from the big bad music industry while carving out a nice 90% of mp3 hardware sales and making billions off that.

The only victims were the itune users that had alternatives denied to them by papa jobs just like they had low priced ebooks denied from them from papa jobs.

 

Again, you could import those DRM free MP3s into iTunes, no problem. I suppose the world have moved on and today we can mix and match music from different stores and sources. Win for all!

I suppose we just don't see eye to eye on this specific (dated?) issue and that is absolutely fine

 

I was in the store this weekend because my mother wanted me to check out a Galaxy Tab 4 10.1 deal and I feel that while you can get some very cool hardware from Samsung, when you actually use them the Apples hold up very well still, even accounting for the price difference. They're just always smooth and fast with anything they do, and very few other hardware seems to be able to pull that off. The newest Samsung Tab S 10.5 inch tablet was there though for 300 euro (temporary deal) and that was a really nice piece of hardware for that price, it has to be said.

 

My mother also wanted a tablet, and I was lucky to find a Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 for the same price of a Tab 4 10.1 (or roughly half the price of my iPad Air 16gb). The iPad's user interface was more responsive (at least before IOS 8.x...) despite the fact that the Galaxy Pro has four A15 cores + four A7 cores, and the iPad's battery lasted a bit longer. They have the same size and weight, but for half the price of an IPad the Galaxy Tab Pro is a much better deal since it has better screen (albeit not 4:3 like the Ipad's), better cameras, infrared support, microSD support and does not feel "locked" like the iPad, which is very restricted unless jailbroken.

 

Eh... Apple did not delay DRM free music. They were harping about it to the music execs. Around that time, Apple refused to move when the labels wanted to raise the price above $0.99 for some DRM'ed songs. Jobs refused.

The music folks gave DRM free music to someone else first. But it didn't make much impact. Apple eventually got the approval and made it happen on iTunes.

iPad has way more tablet software in comparison.

 

Ah I see so apple didn't have drm free music first and they blocked those who did from interfacing with iTunes . But apple really wanted it so badly but I guess locking you into iTunes for your purchases comes before even drm free music.

 

It seems its not as easy as you would imagine!
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31016446

 

You can/could always import DRM-free MP3s into iTunes from any source. You couldn't import DRM-infested MP3s using third party software for good reasons, as the DRM-scheme wasn't implemented in iTunes.

That would be like demanding that Origin should work seamlessly with Steam and other software.

 

I have always imported DRM-free mp3s into iTunes. In fact, I've never purchased an mp3 and I have a library of mp3s that I've built in iTunes over the last 10+ years.

 

$18b pure profit in one quarter is mental. That's about a third of Intel's total annual revenue or about double Nvidia and AMD's combined yearly revenue. Looking it up that's more than Walmart's 2013 profit if wikipedia's to be believed. What is going on. They certainly know how to make money, that's undeniable.

Bit off tangent but here's a crazy thought... AMD? Supposedly they're planning on using their own CPUs again which they'll be able to get a head start with, they'll have a lot of graphics IP they can use in all their products and with their help they could make them the industry standard (eventually), combined ARM knowledge, maybe not yet but going into the server/HPC market (ARM and x86 + graphics), home and handheld console market too if rumours are to be believed with AMD getting Nintendo's handheld. With console penetration they might be able to get Apple TV in (why make your own if you can get a deal with MS/Nintendo/Sony?), they could have a complete mobile line and integrate (handheld console + phone + tablet + MP3) and provide support with their desktops... Hmm.

 

Not sure why they should invest in AMD, they seem perfectly capable of producing well performing SoCs/processors themselves as evident by the A8/X.

I feel like IMG Tech would be a better match. If they wanted AMD know-how, they would go on a hiring spree and add to their already sizable team of SoC, Processor, DSP and GPU specialists.

 

Apple has the money to buy AMD, but whether it can recoup that investment is another matter.
For most of Apple's current product range that makes all that money, AMD has no presence. It will take the increasingly late rollout of new technology to begin to allay serious concerns about how much capability AMD has left in the power range of the desktop and server--should Apple care enough about that.
Any industry initiatives that AMD has become questionable if a big competitor to everyone else in said industry buys it out, so a number of initiatives that AMD is counting on to give it long-term value would likely lose their value at the point of purchase.
AMD's x86 future would likely evaporate. Even though the latest agreements allow for the possibility of renegotiating its cross-licensing with Intel, I do not expect anyone is going to blame Intel if it refuses to throw a bone to a gargantuan player like Apple.
AMD's debt is a big negative, one that seems far bigger than what positives AMD provides.

Everyone else is just leaching out its best staff, waiting for AMD to spin off or sell what is left to service its debt and operations, or waiting for it to implode.

 

What does AMD have that might be of interest of Apple? There's no single field in which they are the undisputed leader.

 

Well, what does any other company have that might interest them? And what would be a good investment?

 

Is AMD really in that bad of a situation? I would have thought with Xbox One and PS4 they'd be doing quite well.

Can't really see Apple buying them. I know they've used AMD GPUs in the past. Not sure if any of the iMacs or Macbooks use them right now. CPUs have been Intel since they went x86. I suppose that could change. I've read they're unhappy with Intel delaying some of their product refreshes. Owning AMD would allow them to control their own destiny, but I'm not sure if it really makes sense to buy that entire business.

 

The real question is Where do they want to go from here? Buying off businesses means nothig if there isn't a firm plan in place.
Plan first, buy later.

 

There's a gloom thread for AMD that can go over how it is doing. If it weren't for semicustom, AMD would be losing money, or at least would be losing more depending on what accounting practices you go by. There's too much besides that which is losing money to do anything but temporarily tread water.

 

Small targeted investments to acquire technology that gives them a competitive edge. Such as buying Authentic: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015...mits-to-cancelled-nexus-6-fingerprint-reader/

I don't think anyone questions that Apple has the best fingerprint reader out there and that it's a fantastic asset. It works great and it's an essential piece of the Apple Pay puzzle.

 

I love these lists...

http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/11/what-you-could-buy-with-apple-700-billion-market-cap/