Speculative, yet interesting article.

[Spartacus2112]

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...pt=1&GT1=33002

[tubemonkey]

Two other things Apple and Sony have in common:

1- their devices are overpriced
2- they're kings of proprietary

[AdamV]

it would either suck big time or not work at all...

@tubemonkey - this happens to all corps out here - once they are successfull, they start to suck you dry with their pricing and vendor limited product... they eventually get too big (M$) like a monster that eats too much then stops moving b/c of its weight and starves itself to death...

[JeremyR]

That would a funny merger to see, because Sony is just a huge company in terms of scope. And each division is basically independent and hates working with other divisions. Even within the same area. The gaming division, for instance, each region just can't cooperate with each other. And then they have a separate PC gaming division that sometimes (but mostly doesn't) support their gaming consoles.

Take their portable game console, the PSP. It can play music. But is the Sony music store integrated? Nope. Is there support for Sony's e-book store? Nope. But the gaming division has its own app for comic books (and its own comic book store).

Whereas Apple seems to be almost like a dictatorship/cult of personality deal, with Steve Jobs having an iron vice like grip on the company.

Beyond that, they seem to have different design philosophies. Games, for instance. Anyone with $100 can make a game for the iDevice. For PS3/PSP you need to spend several thousand dollars on a dev kit, then you have to go through a lengthy approval process, and need to get your games rated by ESRB/PEGI/etc.

Sony is also fairly cozy with Google...

[Penforhire]

Apple succeeded in proprietary things where Sony has a long history of failure (memory stick, Mini disc, SACD, etcetera). I don't see the appeal from Apple's point of view. If they want to move into more of Sony's product space they can do it without buying Sony. They are already putting the squeeze on Sony Ericsson phones and Sony Vaio laptops. You could argue the iPhone/iPad also squeeze the PSP Go, at least draw away some gaming dollars, though Nintendo's DS is still the portable king.

I do not agree Apple's products are all overpriced. That was certainly true some years ago but not by nearly as much today. For example, the iPad actually set a low-price point for what it is. It forced low-end tablet competitors to reduce their planned prices by quite a bit. Also typical app prices for iOS devices are less expensive than equivalent PC versions. Look at the new Air laptops. You say expensive? I say, what do you choose to compete against them? Perhaps the Sony Vaio Z but not really as small & light. If you don't need uber-thin you don't need an Air laptop. But if you do, and want a nice screen, they provide value to their buyers.

[leebase]

Not a good pairing, complete culture clash. Plus, what does Sony have that Apple needs?

Apple buying Facebook -- that I could see. Apple buying it's chip maker, I can see that too. I can see Apple buying Adobe.

Lee