Interesting comments by Fred Wilson about two New York startups that were recently acquired by Facebook:
"You know, companies are failing. A couple of high-flying entrepreneurs came crashing to the ground recently. Justin Shaffer of Hot Potato and Sam Lessin of Drop.io—both of those companies essentially failed. Both of them ended up 'selling' their businesses to Facebook, but those were really just—Facebook wanted to hire those people, and they wrapped it up in a 'sale.' But those companies were unsuccessful. They failed. So there is failure out there—like, right in front of us. We can see it."
(Hot Potato's former lead web engineer Matt Langer responded, "Maybe Fred and I have different definitions of 'failure.' Justin and Sam both built companies that Facebook considered valuable properties ... when the single most important company on the Web considers it worth their while to acquire the product you're building and the people you're working alongside the absolute last word that comes to mind is 'failure'.")
Kudos to Fred for calling it like he sees it--publicly. But we imagine he'll trigger a bit of a backlash here.
Sam and Justin (and Fred) were all members of the Silicon Alley 100 this year.
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Stocks are sliding this morning as concerns grow over whether the Fed's plans to buy Treasury bonds might be smaller and slower than anticipated. Shares of Apple are trading relatively flat. Upcoming catalysts include monthly NPD data (Mac / iPod business); holiday iPhone and iPad sales updates and carrier expansion; new content revenue streams such as video, books and social (Ping); and the uptake of refreshed Apple TV. AAPL trades at 14x Enterprise Value / Trailing Twelve Months Free Cash Flow (incl. long-term marketable securities).
An Apple / Netflix Combination Makes Sense, Says Analyst (Barron's)
Gleacher & Co. analyst Brian Marshall continues to believe that Netflix makes sense as a top acquisition target for Apple. The company wants to be the first to seamlessly integrate the home office and the living room. What’s limiting them now is basically content and better broadband into the home. In terms of content, they have over 10,000 titles on iTunes. Netflix has over 100,000 titles. That would be a pretty interesting marriage right there. Take that Sony! (Sony is “not very innovative” for Apple to consider and has missed the industry shift to software.)
Apple Seeks Help To Gain The Enterprise (Bloomberg)
Expanding beyond its consumer customer base, Apple has enlisted Unisys to help with sales to businesses and U.S. government agencies. The company will provide maintenance and other services to companies and government agencies that purchase Apple devices. One of the first of its kind for Apple, the contract was signed this month. Watch out Microsoft, Apple wil get adoption of more Mac clients in the enterprise because of the iPhone.
Ballmer Steals Halo From Jobs (Develop)
Steve Jobs was allegedly in a rage about Microsoft’s purchase of Mac game developer Bungie back in 2000, a deal that was to bring Microsoft-published games to the Mac. Bungie was the premier game developer on the Mac platform. Halo was to be the company’s next big franchise. If that were the case, I'd be pissed too! That's Microsoft's big seller.
Launching Online Apple And App Stores In China (AppleInsider)
Apple launched its online Apple Store for China as well as its Chinese-language version of the App Store (iTunes), as part of its efforts to strengthen its brand in the Chinese market. An image posted to China's Apple website promoted the new online store with an image of an iPhone, iPad, and iPod nano dressed up as traditional Chinese lanterns. Ah, how cute.
Apple Not Buying Spotify Says Spotify (CNet)
Contrary to published reports, Apple is not talking with Spotify about acquiring the European digital music service (to either take iTunes online or shut it down). The company's spokesman Jim Butcher said acquisitions discussions with Apple have never taken place. "We wouldn't normally comment on this kind of speculation, but we wanted to make it clear that we have absolutely no intention of selling Spotify," he said.
White iPhone Not Coming Till Next Spring (Reuters)
Apple is delaying the release of its eagerly anticipated white iPhone again, this time until next spring. The latest version of the popular handset, the iPhone 4, was released in June, but the white model was delayed first to July, then to the end of the year and now to early next year. At this point, why bother? By the time it's ready, no one will want it.
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