Post from Gruber today about Color: http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/10/17/color-shut-down
> Like I Said, $41 Million Down the Toilet
Apple Said to Acquire Color
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Re: Apple Said to Acquire Color
#42"High double digits" seems like a lot to pay for color.com and @color (although it is a great domain and handle). Maybe they have some really cool patents that they can use to sue Samsung or Google for $500 million and make the acquisition a net profit.
Are you valuing all their employees combined at zero?
Re: Apple Said to Acquire Color
#43As a fellow member of our startup world, congratulations to Color! They deserved success after spotting the opportunity the new mobile era presents for transforming the way people share the stories of their lives. Their constant innovating and striving to learn and grow was sure to bring them plentiful benefits.
Wow, that sounded authentic. I think I just barfed a little in my mouth.
Re: Apple Said to Acquire Color
#44"High double digits" seems like a lot to pay for color.com and @color (although it is a great domain and handle). Maybe they have some really cool patents that they can use to sue Samsung or Google for $500 million and make the acquisition a net profit.
Are you valuing all their employees combined at zero?
Hard to imagine counting on employees staying
Re: Apple Said to Acquire Color
#45IF this is actually true, I can sort of see the fit. Apple is very good at turning pieces into products. Color, clearly, isn't, but may be very good at producing pieces that have value in the proper hands.
I'm throwing this out there to stimulate discussion a bit, and there's a pretty good chance I get downvoted for saying it, but there's an argument to be made that this actually is a success for the patent system. Companies founded on "get a bunch of smart people together and innovate" should be something that we encourage as a society. They create value, and there should be a structure to encourage this to actually happen. I'm not sure that academia should have a monopoly on this sort, and patents are the other current method of doing this.
Re: Apple Said to Acquire Color
#46Post from Gruber today about Color: http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/10/17/color-shut-down > Like I Said, $41 Million Down the Toilet
To be fair, the whole quote was:
> This thing looks like a turd to me. Now, maybe I’m the idiot and the joke’s on me and Color is going to be a huge hit. But my figurative money says that the investors who funded these guys just flushed $41 million in literal money down the toilet.
So the first half of his prediction was correct, color the product was a turd. Actually, a double-turd since their pivot seemed to change the product from manure to guano.
He simply didn't predict what may be a seller's market for strategic patents and their role within it. Which is why he's a journalist and not a VC. His brain isn't devious enough (an neither is mine!).
Re: Apple Said to Acquire Color
#47There's no reason for Apple to buy Color. A couple of patents on recently invented stuff? Unlikely. Buying the patents would make sense, not buying the company. Acquire a team? Why not just hire them? Is the team really that attached to a company going nowhere? So I call this rumor nonsense. On the other hand, if this rumor is true it says a lot about Apple management and none of it good.
Personally, I'd give Apple's management the benefit of the doubt.
Re: Apple Said to Acquire Color
#48"High double digits" seems like a lot to pay for color.com and @color (although it is a great domain and handle). Maybe they have some really cool patents that they can use to sue Samsung or Google for $500 million and make the acquisition a net profit.
Nguyen is the Mr. Magoo of startups.
Re: Apple Said to Acquire Color
#49Sad if true, for all the hardworking companies out there that are working very hard to make a difference in customer's lives. Only overpriced products with no product/market fit can be acquired for "high double digit" millions.
I don't think Apple buys up companies due to "hype", and considering the amount of negative press Color has been receiving as of late, that seems especially unlikely here. More likely it is a talent acquisition, or as greendestiny suggests, patents.
Was there ever a time Color received positive press?
I remember when they first came out, nobody could figure out how they raised to much capital.
Re: Apple Said to Acquire Color
#50lol!