One Truth Republic
Rumors are swirling: Apple looking to buy Meta
The rumor mill is active again and we are hearing of very high level talks between Apple and major shareholders of Meta.
Why would Apple execs and major share holders of Meta be talking?
Clue #1
Apple is famously a walled garden. A garden within which they exercise complete control of the hardware and the software. And to great effect. Everything inside the walled garden is like a calm ocean. Things just work.
But something Apple has been missing is a place for people in the walled garden to be social. For that Apple users have always relied on going elsewhere. The one exception is iMessage where those blue bubbles signal inclusion in the garden. A private club of better experiences as it were.
And while this has been ok in the past Apple is clearly less and less ok others creating chaos for people in their walled garden.
Within the past few years apple has been doubling down on enabling more significant privacy features.
If privacy matters in your life, it should matter to the phone your life is on. Privacy. That’s iPhone.
— Apple (@Apple) October 25, 2019
Including handing users control as to whether they give apps a tracking ID. A key feature needed by Meta on iOS. And one that is now costing Meta billions in lost advertising dollars.
Clue #2
Apple is reportedly going to be entering the ads business by showing ads in their apps. Such as news, stocks etc. At least to start.
Put these clues together and Apple wants people in its walled garden where they can be exposed to less chaos AND serve them ads.
Could Apple decide to start its own social media company? Perhaps - but starting a social network is difficult thing to do, even for a juggernaut like Apple.
Instead it appears that Apple is looking to buy its way in. They can certainly afford it. Apple’s worth 10 times that of Meta. And that ratio is changing fast as Meta loses more and more value.
Now Apple may would want to buy Meta. But why would Meta want to be bought?
There have long been rumors of major shareholders upset with at first the quagmire of the facebook brand and the desertion of the flagship product by the critical youth demographic. And now even more so with the obsession with a poorly conceived “metaverse” that is inviting ever increasing waves of derision and ridicule.
It appears that some forces at Meta are looking to find a way to dispose of Zuck and restore the value of their shares.
Does Zuck know? Unknown. Does Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, know that these meetings are taking place? Undoubtably.
Can they actually do it? Probably not. Zuck has a tremendous amount of control. He has been clever to maintain actual power and not perceived power over his company. There are ways but it would be expensive and very bloody if Zuck decided to fight back.
But we have to ask ourselves.
What would happen if…?
It’s clear that if Apple were to purchase Meta, Zuck would be out. He would just be a liability for Apple. And Apple would have a lot of work to restore and fix the very terrible brand issues that Meta has absorbed under the guidance of Zuck.
But if any company could create a compelling social network that would take place in the metaverse, with their obsession over perfection it would be apple.
Gerry Gigg
