In a note to clients — as noted by 9to5Mac — Barclays analysts Mark Moskowitz and Daniel Gaide opine that Apple is eyeing a major acquisition of a media company. They say such move could allow Apple to achieve its services growth goals that could otherwise slow alongside iPhone sales.
Perhaps hedging their bets, the analysts says the tech giant could scoop up a cloud services company instead of a media company. During its holiday quarter earnings report in January Apple said it plans to double services revenue— which includes all its revenue from sources like the App Store, iCloud, Apple Pay, Apple Music, etc— over the next four years. Moskowitz and Gaide think that purchasing a media and/or cloud firm would make those goals more achievable.
Past rumors have pegged Apple as buying Disney (which, come to think of it, is still a rumor making the rounds), Time Warner, Netflix, Comcast and others. Apple once considered buying Imagine Entertainment (Ron Howard’s production company), according to The Financial Times.
