
Apple must buy Sun - Now!
I have been saying this for years but there is no better fit. Here are the facts:
1. Sun make great infrastructure technology, but fail at marketing and consumer awareness
2. Apple are great at marketing and consumer awareness, but lack a distribution channel for their server products
3. Both companies know that the future lies in robust intuitive web applications - and that Java's time is yet to come. (Android may be it's saving grace, we will see.)
4. The informal connection between Google, Sun and Apple is a potential force for good. (Re Android, if it does get stuck, which I doubt due to the passion behind the open source community, the iPhone is a proven platform with massive potential for all parties.)
The time for a buyout should be now. Apple are on a role (fiscally and from a PR angle) and it is only at the start of a paradigm shift that opportunities can be taken. Else, MS will once again, move in where others have failed to take the initiative and it will be the late 1990s all over again. (Netscape was the great hope that never happened.)