Sun and Apple could have merged

I alluded to this in an earlier post, so let's talk about it now. The Register reported last week that Sun and Apple almost merged three times. In an interview at the Computer History Museum (which is about a block from where I'm currently sitting), Sun co-founder Bill Joy revealed that Sun attempted to acquire Apple once, and almost merged with Apple on two different occasions.

Ignoring the obvious jokes about a company named Snapple (a joke which the Register couldn't resist), I have to say that I'm pretty glad that they didn't. Although their CEOs might have a lot in common, Sun is too focused on the enterprise, and Apple is too focused on the consumer. There's overlap between those two groups, but they have fundamentally different mindsets. Sun's done some great things. As OO languages go, I really rather like Java [1]. But that doesn't mean that the companies should have merged.

I don't think that Scott McNealy would ever have allowed some of Apple's most recent innovations (and cash generators) get off the ground. Even now, McNealy isn't a believer in the iPod. He spouts the company line that the network is the computer, so no-one will want an iPod in five years because your cell phone will be able to access your entire music library wherever you are. That might be technically possible, but it requires more than just low network latency and high bandwidth. Battery technology needs to improve before I can get there. The network has to improve so that I really can access my entire music library when I'm flying internationally. And with an iPod the size of the Nano or the Shuffle, why not just combine them into a single unit (like the Motorola ROKR, but no artificial limitation on the number of songs that it can carry)? And that's ignoring the issues with how mobile phone billing works right now -- my cell phone bill is high enough without having to pay for the download of songs that I already own on my home media server.

As a user researcher, I'm very happy with Apple in its current position. There are few companies with which Apple could have merged and allowed Apple to have made the strides in user experience that Apple has made. I like Sun, and even have a Sparc 10 sitting at home right now. But in this case, I want my chocolate and my peanut butter separate.

[1] My favourite OO language is still Smalltalk.