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Mix: Gray market, YouTube, Shareholders, iPod teens
Wired’s Scott Carney reports on India’s consumer electronics gray market. “After a good deal of haggling, I can pick up a 30-GB video iPod for $280, which is only $20 cheaper than you can get one at Best Buy in the United States, but a whopping $160 cheaper than the $440 that authorized dealers sell iPods for in India.”
GigaOm’s Robert Young says Apple should buy YouTube. “By buying YouTube, Steve Jobs could leapfrog to the top of the heap. After all, he would end up with immediate presence within the ranks of the top 50 web properties. YouTube would also, for the first time, give Apple a platform to tap into the highly-coveted stream of online ad revenues… And by owning a leading platform for user-created content, distribution, and social networking, Jobs could fill in nearly all of Apple’s strategic holes (vs. web competitors) in one fell swoop.”
Apple shareholders have filed suit against the company in state and U.S. courts, claiming that Apple CEO Steve Jobs and other executives changed their option-grant dates to reap “millions of dollars in unlawful profits,” and filed “false and misleading statements” with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The lawsuit involving two middle school students and a missing iPod has been revised. The Chicago Tribune reports: “The lawsuit, filed Aug. 6, was in court for the first time Monday before DuPage County Judge Dorothy French, who presides over Small Claims Court. Saying the lawsuit was legally insufficient, French dismissed it, but several minutes later, McCarthy filed a revised suit with the judge’s permission. The next court date is Sept. 21, when French might assign a time for trial.”
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1
Apple doesn’t want Youtube’s . . . crap.
Buying Youtube = much more lawsuits.
Posted by JoshSpazJosh on August 23, 2006 at 8:17 AM (PDT)
2
The LA Times reported this morning that Sony bought Grouper (YouTube’s nobody cousin) for $65 million. YouTube would be more expensive, but also much more lucrative. That might make Apple think harder about this kind of thing.
Posted by PushButtonAction in Atlanta, GA on August 23, 2006 at 9:24 AM (PDT)
3
Situation in India is very similar to what we live in Mexico.
There’s the black market, but it’s quite common to just buy stuff in the US, first of all, because of the price (a 60 GB iPod costs costs $60 usd and the 2GB nano is around $30 usd), and then because they arrive here one or two months later.
Not to talk about the inexistence of a iTunes Music Store (Mexico has the tenth world-wide place in music piracy).
Posted by MT on August 23, 2006 at 9:54 AM (PDT)
4
Maybe if Apple bought youtube we could finally have an easy way (like Google has) to download iPod-ready video clips.
But I doubt it’ll happen.
Posted by Josh Powell in VA on August 23, 2006 at 11:02 AM (PDT)
5
I don’t think youtube is refined enough to fit with apple’s brand. apple like to control everything; youtube is a free-for-all.
Posted by jm on August 23, 2006 at 12:05 PM (PDT)
6
I think Apple would have something if they bought YouTube.
They may not advertise that they own it, and let it continue to operate as it does now- just profit from it.
Or, they’d change it completely, starting with renaming it “iTube”.
Though it would probably have iWeb integration.
Posted by Eric on August 23, 2006 at 2:58 PM (PDT)
7
so instead of paying for a music video on itunes you can get it for free on youtube. hmmm…
Posted by sighte on August 24, 2006 at 7:27 AM (PDT)
8
They could use it to distribute QT
Posted by JG on August 24, 2006 at 11:12 AM (PDT)
9
Hey Josh… you can buy TubeSock for $15 which converts YouTube videos to iPod Video-ready files. Just an fyi that I’m sure everyone here already knew.
Posted by Jason on August 25, 2006 at 6:19 AM (PDT)