Ask HN: Is Apple becoming the next Sony?

3 points

18 years ago

In today's edition of "I, Cringely", (http://www.pbs.org/cringely/) Robert Cringely suggests that Apple is deliberately withholding Blu-ray support on their hardware in order give itself a leg-up in its own iTunes-based HD video distribution.

This type of behavior got me thinking of another company that blurs the borders between the content and hardware industries: Sony. Sony started buying movie studios after it lost the VHS vs. Betamax war, believing that it could win next time if it only controlled the content. The problem with Sony now is that the tail often wags the dog. The hardware division often makes questionable decisions (PS3 Blu-ray) in order to satisfy the content division.

Did Apple bite the forbidden fruit and become "tainted" when it launched the iTunes music store? Will Apple eventually buy Pixar and/or Disney outright in order to have full control of the content? Can we expect to see stupid decisions (a la Sony rootkit) result from the left hand, which affects the reputation of the right?

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