Rumor: Apple Might Take Over Arm?


mali

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http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-business/article-23826703-city-aflame-with-takeover-talk-of-arm-and-xstrata.do

What do YOU think?

Moorestown, here I come?!

(Seen on German board: http://forum.gp2x.de/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=9450)
 
Not saying it's not going to happen, but it seams unlikely to me.
Mainly due to the fact that Apple might want a small slice of the ARM product line, and have no interest in the rest.
B!
 
My thoughts on the matter? Well, um...
AAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I need to listen to some One Winged Angel now.
 
I think there may be two causes for this rumour ...

1. It originated around three weeks ago as a joke, but now got out of hand.

2. Some merchant banker wants to dump ARM stock and is bigging them up so he makes a profit.

3. I may be wrong and proved cynical on both counts :p
 
gp32rich said:
2. Some merchant banker wants to dump ARM stock and is bigging them up so he makes a profit.

Bing, bing, bing! We have a winner!

If ARM Holdings gets purchased, I would be very sad...

What architecture could take ARM's place? Apple would probably keep the ARM license under wraps, so there goes the Tegra, OMAP, Snapdragon, and damn near everything else.
 
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quadomatic said:
gp32rich said:
2. Some merchant banker wants to dump ARM stock and is bigging them up so he makes a profit.

Bing, bing, bing! We have a winner!

If ARM Holdings gets purchased, I would be very sad...

What architecture could take ARM's place? Apple would probably keep the ARM license under wraps, so there goes the Tegra, OMAP, Snapdragon, and damn near everything else.

Nah, don't be pessimistic. We'll probably have the AMAP, AppleDragon and Tegrapple at 3 times the current price, available to general manufacturers, 2 years after apple has discontinued them in their own devices...
 
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r00tw00t said:
What would this do to a eventually Pandora 2?
Nothing. Nothing at all. There would simply be no ARM cpu in a Pandora 2. As i said b4, it's probably just hot air, Apple doesn't need to buy ARM to get the design under there own roof.
B!
 
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If they did shut down ARM the Pandora2 would probably be some ATOM based hardware with shitty battery life.

However I don't believe they could stop current and even next generation hardware from being released, ARM will have licences already set up probably beyond OMAP4 which Apple won't be able to cancel.
 
That would be horrible. But with ARM being in every cellphone, it would force other cell makers to license the tech from Apple - No regulatory agency is going to allow that. Hopefully if they do try to buy it, it will be blocked.
 
craigix said:
If they did shut down ARM the Pandora2 would probably be some ATOM based hardware with shitty battery life.

However I don't believe they could stop current and even next generation hardware from being released, ARM will have licences already set up probably beyond OMAP4 which Apple won't be able to cancel.

This is what I was thinking. Short term, there would be no real change as so many companies have a lot invested in ARM-based stuff that they would probably follow those projects to their conclusions, but long term, I can't see a lot of companies wanting to deal with a direct competitor for such crucial technology. And since Apple purchased a processor manufacturer recently as well, it could mean the end of ARM selling as a reference design, seriously harming companies like Qualcomm, Samsung or TI. I would expect Intel in particular to benefit hugely in the long run from a move like this.
 
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craigix said:
If they did shut down ARM the Pandora2 would probably be some ATOM based hardware with shitty battery life.

Ugh, god no. That would be horrible. I don't want an x86 processor in anything smaller than a laptop.

If Intel Atom takes over where ARM has been, then Linux adoption in embedded devices could go down as well.

Would companies start making devices with MIPS processors?
 
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Yeah right.
ARM is at the basis of so many stuff, with it being important for >half the industry, that nobody's going to let Apple eat it up. At the very least, the bigger companies can buy so many ARM-stock that Apple can't take it over anymore...

Anyways, even if Apple manages to buy ARM, ARM has already given licenses, including design-licenses, to many companies, and Apple won't be able to retract those. The only thing they can do is stop licensing new designs, or selling new licenses. But most ARM-employees will probably leave Apple immediately, and continue ARM-development somewhere else... Just look at what happened to PA-semi. So, the ARM-world will continue, but it might get fragmented, and might slowly dry up, as it'll be hard for new companies getting a license...

Oh, and we always still have MIPS, and I guess IBM, or someone else, could also make a low-power POWER.
It won't be the end of the world, but would effectively put Apple on its own little island, which will in fact heavily hurt Apple, as they'll have to do everything themselves, no more synergy with the rest of the world...

Stupid investors that believe every single rumor...
 
Laurencevde said:
Yeah right.
ARM is at the basis of so many stuff, with it being important for >half the industry, that nobody's going to let Apple eat it up. At the very least, the bigger companies can buy so many ARM-stock that Apple can't take it over anymore...

I'm not saying that Apple really is going to buy up ARM Holdings, or that it's a good idea or good for the industry. But, what "larger" companies could do that? Out of all the major ARM licensees, it seems like Apple is the only one that can finance a purchase of large amounts of ARM stock.
 
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Scary this might give the chinese an opportunity to storm the market with MIPS based systems.
The PSP isn't arm based and it's not a bad cpu for when it was developed.
 
quadomatic said:
Laurencevde said:
Yeah right.
ARM is at the basis of so many stuff, with it being important for >half the industry, that nobody's going to let Apple eat it up. At the very least, the bigger companies can buy so many ARM-stock that Apple can't take it over anymore...

I'm not saying that Apple really is going to buy up ARM Holdings, or that it's a good idea or good for the industry. But, what "larger" companies could do that? Out of all the major ARM licensees, it seems like Apple is the only one that can finance a purchase of large amounts of ARM stock.

Lots of companies could go after ARM. And it does not have to be licensee... just a company interested in owning the IP. Heck, here is a random list of tech companies for you that could easily finance this purchase.
LG
Samsung
Sony
Microsoft
Intel (Intel could crush any bid by Apple by barely lifting a finger.)
AMD
Toshiba
Philips
Nokia
etc.

And then you could throw in some larger VC's that could see ARM as an awesome investment opportunity.

So if the Board of Directors at ARM has any brains (and I assure you they do), they would shop the company around to maximize shareholder value. In the end lots of companies could easily finance a purchase of ARM.
 
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