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Far be it for me to report on Wall Street rumors… but I’m going to report on a Wall Street rumor. This one’s too good to pass up.
Apple, the people who make the computer I’m typing on right now, is the world’s second largest company when measured in market capitalization. They’ve got $51 billion in cash and investments, an amount that is somewhat in excess of comprehension. It is likely that the hot shit gizmo maker will use some of this money to buy something cool – they do that all the time.
Leading the pack of rumor dogs is Sony, which owns Columbia Pictures. That’s not a great fit – Sony is heavily invested in retro technology and, besides, international hostile takeovers rarely succeed in Japan. They also developed Blu-Ray, which Apple hates. Barron’s, the Rupert Murdoch owned business weekly, noted several potential takeover targets: the aforementioned Sony, the software manufacturer Adobe (which is in a blood feud with Apple right now), Facebook… and Disney.
Apple honcho Steve Jobs is Disney’s largest stockholder. He’s on Disney’s board. He used to own Pixar, before he sold it to Disney.
Disney owns Marvel.
Last week, Jobs stated Apple will use that $51 billion for “big moves.” Acquiring Disney takes enormous ego, and if there’s anything Apple has in excess of cash reserves, it’s ego.
We note that when Apple launched its revolutionary iPad (which, by the way, I regard as a wonderful comic book reader), Marvel’s comic book app was one of their very top “sellers.” That’s in quotes because the app is free, although most of the comic books are not and Apple gets 30% of the “cover price.” So Marvel received great exposure in the Apple App Store. Remember, Marvel is owned by Disney and Jobs is the biggest mouse on their lot.
Disney’s ABC-TV has a bunch of Marvel properties in development
and Marvel has promoting Disney’s new Tron movie as though it starred Iron Man.
There’s a lot of reasons why this could happen. There are a lot of reasons why it wouldn’t: quite frankly, there are better investments than Disney. But still, it’s a real nice fit.
I can hardly wait for the inevitable Disneyland Justin Long “I’m A Mac” thrill ride.
In case you missed it, and danged if it didn’t happen fast… Shirt.Woot! debuted a dilly of a pickle today on it’s newest shirt, featuring our favorite scarlet speedster taking a little nap on the concrete. The culprit? Well, a poisoned Apple. It seems Apple killed Flash. Get it? Or do we need to spell this one out?
Savvy tech-nerds get it. You see, those fancy iPhones, and iPads don’t support the web-based technology Flash, created by Adobe. The two companies used to be like Wally and Hal. Or Hal and Ollie. Or Ollie and Black Canary. But now? They’re like Superman and Lex Luthor, or Batman and the Joker. It ain’t pretty. Sure, both companies have attempted to explain their malaise for one another in wonderfully worded “open letters”, but we comic fans know hatred when we see it. And this situation is like Professor X and Magneto: best buddies turned enemies based on their personal mantras.
While we would have love to slap one of these cotton beauties across our geeky torsos… alas, Shirt.Woot! has already sold out. Faster than Barry slapped Wally back to the co-feature eh’?
After years of rumors, I finally understood what the playing field was going to look like when ComicBookLover released their viewer
for the iPhone yesterday. I knew that Apple’s new iPad would run on the iPhone OS, that it would be high-resolution enough to read comic books on a 10” screen. I knew it was going to become the cool platform of choice for newspapers and magazines and books that need color and graphics support.
All stuff that had been generally predicted, along with a lot of other stuff. But what I didn’t know was the price. And I don’t know if people are even interested in reading newspapers any longer, although Apple chief Steve Jobs doesn’t know that either.
If the iPad price was too high, a whole lotta people in the media racket would be out of jobs. Magazines and newspapers, and to a slightly lesser extent book publishers, cannot survive with the present distribution models. Textbook publishers would be marginally more secure. So if
I heard a figure with five nines in it, I knew there’s be quite a number of
people on Sixth Avenue selling their pencils.
Apple always prices their products high under the belief
that a BMW is worth more than a Toyota. But this time they took a turn. Pricing between $500 and $830 – the difference is in 3G connectivity and the amount of memory you get – even the high-end model is reasonably priced. AT&T’s service is low-priced; $15 a month for 250 MB of service, and only $30 for unlimited service. This includes full access to AT&T’s Wi-Fi hotspots, providing even faster service than 3G. And the iPad promises 10 hours of video use on a single charge.
Oh, and it weighs 1.5 pounds. Check out Marc Fishman’s excellent piece with all the details here.
It’s got a large on-screen keyboard and it can use Apple’s Bluetooth keyboard. You can get Apple’s word processing, spreadsheet and
presentation software – fully comparable with Microsoft Office – for $10 a
module. Doubtlessly, Microsoft will offer their far more expensive versions of the same stuff before too long.
Lots of publishers have already signed up: Penguin, Harper-Collins, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, Gameloft, Electronic Arts, the New York Times, and Major League Baseball. And the iPad will run most all iPhone and iPod apps as well.
So. Will the media thrive? Maybe. Is this a lifeline?
Absolutely. Will it be the cool thing to own? Probably. Will it save the comic book format? It will if I have anything to say about it. Will the streets of
midtown Manhattan be splattered with mediaworkers’ blood?
No more than usual.
Everybody wants to see the fabled device that will change the comics industry, but Valleywag is putting their money where their mouth is with their Apple Tablet Scavenger Hunt:
If you can find the first genuine
photos, video or — the holy grail — the actual messiah machine itself
before then and they’re exclusive to us, we’ll give you a cash prize.
Not to be outdone, Marvel is offering 500 copies of Siege #3 with a Deadpool variant cover.
Legend of the Seeker debuts on Saturday as a first-run syndicated series. To let people sample the series, an extended preview is available as a free download at Apple’s iTunes store. Legend of the Seeker: A First Look is actually the first 30 minutes of the two-hour first episode.
The series is from executive producers Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, who gained fame for their work on Hercules and Xena.
"Fans have been clamoring to get a first look at the series and based on the early response from the clips released on the Legend of the Seeker website, we knew this would be a huge success with audiences," Janice Marinelli, President, Disney-ABC Domestic Television said in a release.
Craig Horner (Blue Water High) and Bridget Regan (The Black Donnellys) star in the series originally entitled Wizard’s First Rule. The 22 episodes are being shot in New Zealand. Horner is Richard Cypher, a simple woodsman who becomes the magical leader who partners with Kahlan to put an end to a tyrant’s reign.
The book series launched in 1994 and the complex story has played out through eleven novels and one novella. Each volume is largely self-contained but the threads continue from book to book. Confessor, out last year, is said to end the current story cycle but Goodkind intends to revisit the world in future works.
For times and channels in your area, consult the show’s website.
There’s a lot of chatter on the net, probably starting from Rich Johnston’s column and now working its way up to Fortune magazine, about how Apple (the computer company, not the comic company of the 90’s– hi, Mike Catron!) has declined to sell P.J. Holden’s Murderdrome comic, which was submitted as an application to be sold via iTunes and designed to be read on an iPhone.
Many people, including many commenters on the company’s web site, are calling this censorship. To which I reply, bullshit.
Look, I know censorship. I was an original plaintiff in ACLU v. Reno, the lawsuit that overturned the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which gives me the legal right to type the word "bullshit" on the internet. I’ve been a member of the CBLDF for years (and you should be too). I published a poem by Neil Gaiman about erotic cannibalism, written in strict iambic pentameter, just to prove the point. And I’m telling you, what Apple’s doing ain’t censorship.
Apple has declined to carry this product for sale in their store. Is that censorship? If it is, so is the comic store I frequent most for not carrying the latest works of Milo Manera. He’s decided not to carry it. He feels it doesn’t fit in with his customer base, he’s just not interested. Does he carry comics that feature bare breasts? Yep. This is like saying that it’s censorship for a store to not stock Eros Comics when the store doesn’t even carry Fantagraphics.
Those who own or know people who own an iPhone have probably come in contact with an application that has been on the iTunes top 25 applications since the birth of the App Store, and easily one of the most entertaining. The PhoneSaber app is a very simple yet enjoyable application which uses the accelerometer of the iPhone, turning the phone into a makeshift Lightsaber, sounds and all – minus the ability to cut off your bastard son’s hand.
Well, it looks as if Star Wars creator and ultimate ruiner of all things good George Lucas has expressed that he is not pleased with the fact that there is a Lightsaber application, seeing as how his video game developer, LucasArts, along with sister company THQ, have all the rights for handheld Star Wars video games. This coming on the heels of the I Am Rich App scandal, Apple has pulled the popular PhoneSaber from the App Store.
There are currently talks about LucasArts retooling the application under thier name to coincide with the "Unleashing the Force" iPhone game later this year, with better functionality (and a price). Either way, if you own the application, and don’t feel like spending $4.99 in six months to buy the exact same thing, make sure you don’t delete it in a fit of rebellion.
Ever since the Apple iPhone’s debut, tech-minded comic fans discussed it as the ideal platform to read comics in the 21st century. When your friends talk about it, it’s utopia dreaming. When the suits talk about it — especially if they can make money — it’s a step closer to becoming reality.
A recent Reuters story detailed how the downloadable cell phone comic business could explode in Japan when the Apple iPhone debuts there for the first time on July 11th. Manga have caused the mobile publication market to double in the last year to a $204 million business. The iPhone would allow for even more natural reading of comic pages, with a large screen, the ability to zoom on different panels, and turn pages. The latest version of the iPhone will be cheaper, faster, and most importantly, include 3G technology for faster Internet connections. With an emerging business model already in place and ideal technology being introduced, a “perfect storm” for cell comics could emerge.
If cell phone comics become successful overseas, expect American comics to follow the trend. With print publishing continually under pressure, don’t be surprised if the big four comic publishers in the U.S. start meeting with Apple (if they’re not already) to have digital comics offered in the App Store.
Superman on your iPhone might even make reading comics chic.
Today in <a href=”
the Apple Macintosh computer was introduced during the Superbowl with what else, a nod, rather, a shake to George Orwell’s 1984. And you know, a hot blonde in short-shorts who saves the world is always a sure win, too. Strangely enough, Apple has consistently stuck with the smarmy yet charming narrator seducing you to buy sexy devices. I’m going to go pretend that I’m way above switching my provider just so I can use the iphone.
Droool….iphone…so….sexy…
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