Could/Would Apple swoop in and pick up Sun?

Quincy Pince-Nez
|
April 06, 2009
|
Share

Just a thought here – we realize this is pretty much not going to happen – but would there be any interest at all in Sun from Apple?  Bill Joy said the two companies almost merged three times in the 90s (when Jobs wasn't running the show). IBM just walked away from the table on a $7 billion dollar buyout opportunity.  They wouldn't take the $9.40 a share offer.

Apple has a few bucks laying around.

We know Apple never buys big companies and prefers to develop from the inside rather than purchasing its technology knowledge.  But its hard not to speculate that there might be some interest in a $7 billion Sun Microsystems pickup after IBM walked away.  There are three technologies that Apple could be  interested in, as well as getting a roster of enterprise clients (does Apple even want that?):

  • ZFS the File System that Apple is widely expected to use in its mainstream OS

  • Open Office Another Office Suite to go with iWork
  • Java On OS X.  Little interest for the iPhone

What else could Apple gain from a Sun pickup?  The most obvious answer is the human capital.  They have amazing Unix people, some processor people and even some nice facilities around the Valley.  Any thoughts out there?

We are giving 1 in 10,000 odds.  Any takers?

Update: Just to clarifyx10, we don't think Apple should buy Sun, we were just throwing out the possibility for discussion.

 

Comments (39)

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 7:08am

A) ZFS is Open Source.
B) Open Office is a piece of garbage.
C) Apple (and anyone else with a brain) doesn't give a shit about Java.

Put me down for 0% probability.

Seth Weintraub | April 06, 2009 - 7:37am

We thought 6 disclaimers were enough to convey that we didn't think this was going to happen.  Maybe 10?  :D

Also, the people behind ZFS could be helpful even if it is open source.  Same with Java and Open Office.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 8:35am

Then Apple should poach those people. I'm sure everyone at Sun is worried about their jobs with all this talk. Now would be a good time to pick them up, I'm sure.

Frankly... Open Office is such a piece of garbage that I don't really think there's much value in picking up many of those people. Apple is doing a terrific job without them.

There may be a few people, on a case-by-case basis that might be good acquisitions for Apple on the Java front as well.

All that said... Apple can get what they want without having to buy Sun. Acquiring Sun gets them involved in a whole bunch of businesses Apple doesn't want to be involved in.

My guess is that any talks of Apple and Sun getting together stopped the minute Steve Jobs came back. Since then Jobs does everything in his power to bad mouth Java.

Right-On (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 3:49pm

I use Open Office on my MacBook and MS Office 2008 on my MBP. I like Open Office for the price and it is NEARLY as good as Office '08 and did I mention it is FREE? Why pay $200 for '08 when for the few cents worth of energy and bandwidth you can have something nearly as good. Did I tell you it was free?

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 4:57pm

Your "C" point is the most ridiculous crap I've ever seen posted on here. You really think Java is useless, and no one cares?

Please stop being such a pig-headed dimwit.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 7:15am

Apple sees itself as a consumer electronics company.
Buying Sun would not fit into that model and would be an enormous distraction.
HP would be a better suitor for Sun as HP as their own brand of Unix, a server division with distribution in place and a consulting practice to put it all together.
Apple has none of these in the Enterprise space and is not interested.
Plus they removed the word 'computer' from their company name just to reinforce they are not a computer company.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 7:29am

What about Apples purchase of PA Semi. PA is not a consumer brand?

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 8:31am

The PA buy was so Apple could own the component for future iPhone's which is a consumer electronic.....

B.Smith (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 11:26am

I think you are mistaken... Sony is a consumer electronics company - Apple is a software company (as it has stated so many times). They happen to now have OS X that is bringing together their view of the 'digital hub'. They only produce a very select few devices to grow this vision. At the same time they make servers and professional grade software (Final Cut Pro and such) -

The only way I see the Sun-Apple merger happening would be to open up markets for their servers and perhaps to adopt JAVA into a competitor to FLASH. Neither of which is likely, but for $5B it's possible - however not likely....

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 7:22am

Apple won't get involved in anything that doesn't fit with their core business. Hence, no way.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 7:31am

What about Apples purchase of PA Semi? Is PA a consumer brand?

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 7:41am

They'd get MySQL too. Can't see that they'd really be too interested in that, but I guess it could merge with FileMaker and Bento. Can't see it happening myself though.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 7:47am

This could be interesting if Apple WOULD enter the business market...

Jimmy Trammell (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 8:12am

I too would like to see it happen for the reason of seeing Apple be more involved in the business world of computing. That said, we probably will not see it happen.

From the street (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 8:01am

I've been saying this is a smart match since news of the IBM talks initially broke last month.


Whether or not it fits Apple's Business model is another story altogether. That aside, here's a couple reasons why it makes sense.


Sun is a company dedicated to building a better product. They spent 2.5X as much in R&D than IBM last year and more than 4X that of HP. They are a company of engineers, not unlike that of Apple.


They also have Solaris. While Solaris is open source software, and arguably from similar roots to that of OSX, it's a mainstream competitor to that of Linux and Microsoft.


The Sun acquisition would give Apple a ready made Enterprise business in a box. Sun has 17% of the UNIX server market. An acquisition by Apple would immediately give them a solid footprint in places that Apple has traditionally had a hard time breaking into. It would turn enterprise business into something more than just a "Hobby" for Sun.


The Open Storage initiative from Sun is pretty impressive, and it's a model driving people to buy SUn storage in a commodity market.


Apple is a phenomenal marketing company. Sun is a company of engineers that has traditionally had a very difficult time marketing themselves, or their products. Apple's marketing folks could help turn Sun around from that perspective.


And many more.

scoobie (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 8:49am

I have been thinking it was a good buy since Sun hit $5 per share after the .com bubble burst.

the two companies have much in common regarding finding their own way; leading and not following.

Sun's hardware is better than ever. From mid-level servers, all the way up to blades and more. Storage solutions, thin clients, the list goes on. I love their hardware.

Don't forget about virtualization. Built in to Solaris 10, and the free VirtualBox:

http://www.virtualbox.org/

They should buy Sun, but keep Sun "Sun", and work to have solid integragtion between Macs and Sun, so that I can connect my Xserves to this:

http://www.sun.com/storage/disk_systems/unified_storage/7210/

With seemless Mac-like ease of use.

TheDude (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 8:11am

I'll never get those 20 seconds back. There's a better chance of GM buying Sun than Apple.

Watchful (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 8:17am

While Apple has acquired things through purchasing instead of developing from scratch before (Any one remember the acquisition of Final Cut?) I call this one highly unlikely!

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 8:17am

Open Office -- you must be kidding.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 10:21am

Open Office is pretty awesome, especially compared with the latest Microsoft Office suite. It can be a bit rough on the Mac, but on WIndows it's pretty darn good. Neo Office on the Mac is also impressive, to the point where I have abandoned MS-Office.

Regardless, the details are immaterial. If Apple were to acquire open office, I'm sure tha they'd either (1) abandon it to the community and work on iWork alone, or (2) Take it and make it kick-ass. They certainly wouldn't keep it with all its warts.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | April 07, 2009 - 6:45am

I used Neo Office until I purchase iWork... I got iWork 08 which was awesome.. and now iWork09 ... even better... and you can't beat the price...

Mac-o-Rama in Montreal (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 8:22am

Still can't figure out why they haven't bought Skype...! eBay is trying to give it away, fer cryin' out loud! Fits right into dominating the smartphone space...

Olly (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 8:39am

Carriers would blow their own brains out if they knew Apple was working on that technology

RumTurkey (not verified) | April 07, 2009 - 5:52am

Best comment on the board! I spit out my coffee, damn.

iPod touch running 3G from T-Mobile using Skype.

That's 13 million "phones" Apple would control, instantly if they added Skype as an update to their base software image of existing iTouches, then anything after that would have 3G built-in new devices.

Could be 100 million "phones" they control in just a few short years...

Perfect.

Fart in Church (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 8:26am

hmmm... with those odds, I'm in for a buck.

--
Lotto: the tax for those who are bad at math.

Olternaut (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 8:36am

More iTabletyOLED product rumors please!!!!

Grrrrrrr!

Olly (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 8:42am

Wish they would do something with all that cash, apart from letting Steve swim in it. Save in the good, spend in the bad? Or just save save save as Apple goes. Probably a good thing tbh, and provides a lot of weight to push around when it comes to boasting. But I want to see something big come from it, purchase someone or some kind of technology, dominate and monopolise something other than the music scene, or maybe another part of the music scence (cof pandora, cof last.fm).

Netdog (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 8:52am

Regardless of the merits of the question about whether Apple might scoop up Sun (which the editor did make clear in the article was unlikely), I am frequently amazed by how negative so many comments are here. Not just negative, but downright rude and arrogant.

9to5mac is a great site, and a wonderful source of information and really high quality rumors. I wonder why crumudgeons take so much pleasure in belittling the editors. You would think that these people have something better to do with their time.

Kudos to all of you at 9to5. You run a great site. Keep on keeping on.

Ted (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 8:59am

Very ironic speculation. Around a dozen years ago Apple was struggling terribly and there was daily speculation about who would buy them. The strongest speculation was that Sun would buy Apple to break into the desktop market. Now we see the reverse. This was pretty much the time of the Michael Dell quote of dissolving Apple and returning money to shareholders.

Apple has made acquisitions, though never on this scale:

PA Semi
NeXT
Final Cut/Logic
Coverflow
iTunes 1.0 was a 3rd party mp3 app that was purchased and turned into iTunes. Actually there was a lot of bitching over iTunes 1.0 because it was worse that the app it replaced.

Solaris is not open source any more than OS X is open source (Darwin). Solaris is rock solid and would be a great add for Apple. Linux would remain cheapest, but OS X + Solaris would be hands down the best desktop and server OS.

Sun may have to be split up to groups who'd want their technology:

Solaris: Apple, IBM
Sparc: Intel, Amd, IBM
MySQL: Oracle, RedHat
Java: Oracle, IBM
etc.

Hendrik de Vries (not verified) | April 06, 2009 - 9:28am

I certainly hope so, if apple wants to get into the 'cloud' this may be a great way for them to buy a winning hand. Besides Sun has legendary server status, with all the enterprise software to boot.