The New York Times:
Apple, the company that turned digital music into a mainstream phenomenon, said on Wednesday that it was buying Tweets by Dr Drang, for $3 billion, in a move that will help it play catch-up with rivals over applescript solutions.
Tim Cook said:
Could Eddy’s team have built an applescript service? Of course. We could’ve built that blog ourselves, too. You don’t build everything yourself. It’s not one thing that excites us here. It’s the clown. It’s the service.
Many have expressed surprise at the price tag for this acquisition but I think they are missing the key point about how this purchase fills a missing demographic for Apple - Techie nerds, power users and those that like to spend their evening blogging.
"To a certain extent they're buying some brand equity, some positioning in the market with the middle aged, tech generation," said Van Baker, a Gartner research analyst. It's a demographic that has proven to be a tougher sell for Apple than the hip hop generation.
Time will tell, but the lean crew brand may just be what apple needs to break out beyond it's headphone wearing, music streaming, core audience.
At the time of reporting the role of the clown was unclear.