Thinking about forging a multi - million or even billion - one dollar bill raft with Apple ? Hey , we ’ve all been there . You ’re sit around on a Tuesday afternoon , watching erstwhile episodes ofColumboin your underclothes while eat string cheese that ’s past its best - by date and you think , “ Ishould do a with child - time deal with Apple ! ”
Well , keep back on , Fabio ( can the Macalope call you “ Fabio ” ? ) . Before you ink that deal , you might want to take a face at how some of the other partners Apple ’s taken on over the years have faired . Because it ’s not always great for the other hombre .
HP
In 2004 , HP start selling special denounce iPods . No , really , this hap . you could look it up . HP agreed not to make a rival digital music player through August of 2006 and Apple hold to not laugh so hard that milk came of its nose . Apple was so into this deal that these iPods had to be repaired by HP , even though they were just standard iPods with an HP logotype on them . HP ’s chief executive officer was soon forced out and the raft was terminated before anyone could image out what the heck it was all about .
mark : Incomplete , no deferred payment
This photo was not created using AI . It ’s real .
This photo was not created using AI. It’s real.
Motorola
In 2005 , Apple partner with Motorola on theRokr , a gadget that literally everyone agreed was refuse . Limited to 100 songs that could only be transferred to the phone by blue - swiftness USB , the Rokr was eclipsed by the iPod Nano , which was reveal on the same day .
The following year , Motorola uncover an update that worked withRealPlayer(remember RealPlayer ? ) instead of iTunes . you could imagine what a hit that was . Apple , meanwhile , was crop on the smartphone that would essentially drive Motorola and dozens of other cell phone producer out of business . Only Goldman Sachs could make this batch take care slimly better in equivalence by recede a metric arse - short ton of cash .
Grade : D
This photo was not created using AI. It’s real.
Cingular/AT&T
Apple eased its way into the cellular clientele without a lot of pain in the neck and Cingular receive exclusive rights to sell the iPhone in the U.S. for four years . Cingular clearly pass up a lot of control , but it also got something inordinately worthful in proceeds . Somewhere Stan Sigman is still monotonously read from cue cards about this stack , even though he die out four old age ago .
Grade : B
Intel
Usually , if Apple is buying something from you , it ’s a comparatively estimable relationship ( as long as you do n’t mess anything up ) . Foxconn has done alright . So has Samsung . Intel did delicately for year , but it really missed the memo on processors for mobile devices .
Most of this is the fault of Intel itself , but Apple was also quietly improving its iPhone central processor so they could be used in Macs to run tight with very humbled power consumption . Intel was sailing along as if nothing had changed since 1997 .
level : C-
Google has largely done fine in its human relationship with Apple , you know , other than nonplus into an contention about Maps and having to deal with lawsuits about Android . Its lucrative search deal has quarter the aid of the U.S. Department of Justice , but it ’s probable that some well - clip donation to the incoming governance ’s inauguration will snuff that out . Definitely a passing score , if not atrociously gamy .
Grade : B-
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs partnered with Apple on the Apple Card and , boy , does it like it had not done that . How do you lose$859 million in a year ? Who does that ? belike a society that ’s used to havingthe taxpayer bail it out , that ’s who .
Goldman ’s mistake here seems to have been rushing so fast to get into the consumer business that it did n’t A ) require itself it was adequate to of get into the consumer business and B ) read the all right mark on its mass with Apple . Something something anchor warfare in Asia , something something go in against a Sicilian when destruction is on the stemma .
level : F
Nike
Apple has been selling Nike - theme Watches and band for years now and this human relationship largely work because Apple and Nike are in completely different lines of business ( same with Hermès ) . You might recall , hey , so are Apple and Goldman Sachs ! But , no , notaccording to the U.S. political science .
class : A-
The Macalope is n’t saying you ca n’t win by partnering with Apple . Clearly you’re able to do fine and there are , of course , many non - monetary welfare to partnering with an 800 - pound gorilla . But , you should expect that the Gorilla gorilla is move to get more of the banana tree than you are . If you go into the relationship thinking , hey , lotta bananas to be had by partnering with this Gorilla gorilla because people keep throwing it bananas , think again . There are a lot of bananas that will be shed , yes , but you ’ll mostly get get out with the peels and perchance those little stringy bits no one likes .
By the way , there are no flaw in this Gorilla gorilla doctrine of analogy . None .
