This Could be Worse than Bernie

[cosworth151]

Do you think nothing could be worse than Bernie? That's what I thought, until I heard this rumor:

Apple might be looking to by the commercial rights to F1.   

http://autoweek.com/article/formula-one/could-apple-buy-commercial-rights-f1

[Scott]

Au contrare...I like it.

First of all Apple can buy F1 with the change it found in the shorts it was wearing last week.  Meaning no ridiculous debt service sucking every last dollar out of the sport to pay some unnamed bank gazillions in interest.

2nd - I actually HAVE Apple TV.  I like it, it works for me, and when I feel like buying an episode, I buy it and I watch it, and look forward to doing the same with F1 weekends.  I'm ok with paying for a race as long as it is a reasonable price and good quality broadcast.

3rd - Apple is a business, not a greed vacuum sucking every dime out of the sport it can.  They want to grow their business and to do that they will put out a quality product at a good price.  Like they always have.

4th - Apple will want to brand F1 or at least expose their brand to F1.  So that means there will be a very rich blue chip company adding to the sponsor pool of F1 and it might even attract other sponsors who also want to be associated with Apple.  I'm all for new money in F1.

Fortune.com took the rumour a bit more seriously...

http://fortune.com/2016/07/14/apple-formula-one/?iid=sr-link1

[Jericoke]

It's certainly not a match made in heaven, but it makes more sense than a motorcycle parts dealer running the sport.

I agree with Scott, that if Apple isn't running the sport to wring every dime out of it, it can do a lot of good for the sport.  I presume innovation will become very important to the sport again.  Certainly Apple has a recent history of negotiating complicated rights deals.

[cosworth151]

Apple TV would be the end of it. Many people don't have it, can't afford it or just flat out don't want it. It certainly won't pick up any new fans on pay TV.

Apple knows nothing about racing and probably cares even less. We could likely end up with a Formula E style "Fanboost" where cars are given extra power based on how many people vote for them on social media. And, as soon as the newness wears off, they'll dump it & move on to the next fad.

[Scott]

Apple has (at least until now) never tried to make things exclusively theirs.  They know that the business model of offering something like F1 on AppleTV alone would kill the sport.  The only difference would be that they would amend all the TV contracts so they can additionally offer it on AppleTV for those of us who live globally and want to watch whatever and whenever we want, wherever we are.  Regional copyright be damned.

I cannot see anyone with any sense buying the rights to F1 or any sport only to lock it down into a small market.  Suicidal Apple are not.

One example is my wife's frustration that she actually has to go to the trouble to export Apple Numbers files to an exel file so idiot Windows PC's can read them.  Of course Apple can read all Windows files, but childish Microsoft doesn't want their customers to be able to read Apple files for some ridiculous reason.

[Monty]

I think I have reached a point where I feel nothing could be much worse than the situation we have now. There is so much money in F1 but very little of it gets to where it should be. The classic track owners are bled dry. The venues are negotiated on political power plays and have nothing to do with what would be best for the sport. Fantastic circuits loved by drivers and spectators alike are dropped in favour of circuits supported by dodgy Governments and designed to be clinical and boring. At least Apple understand the need for good management, supplier partnerships and customer service - things Bernie has forgotten if he ever knew them!

[F1fanaticBD]

This is the brutal part of the business. Here money matters, emotion influences little. The word passion, heritage becomes insecure and will be subdued if there is any conflict with money. And such condition can only be blamed for the rapid expansion of the sports and how such huge boom was handled. I think since the time of TV right boom, things started to go wrong, and instead of getting of steady climb, the bulling growth was handled in a manner with the robust ambition. And as a result F1 has noticed two broadcaster first Kirsch and then ITV got busted, and I have a feeling Sky is heading that way. Also the savior CVC turned out to be those hungry loan-shark Bernie at the helm. Its a flawed system, and a major shake-up will definitely be vetoed by the stakeholders now. So things will only get downward, unless there is an absolute unision among all, which is very very unlikely. So my dear F1 fans, the ride is going to be more bumpy that it already is.

[Jericoke]

I think I have reached a point where I feel nothing could be much worse than the situation we have now. There is so much money in F1 but very little of it gets to where it should be. The classic track owners are bled dry. The venues are negotiated on political power plays and have nothing to do with what would be best for the sport. Fantastic circuits loved by drivers and spectators alike are dropped in favour of circuits supported by dodgy Governments and designed to be clinical and boring. At least Apple understand the need for good management, supplier partnerships and customer service - things Bernie has forgotten if he ever knew them!

One of the things that helped make NASCAR big was the car companies would give their employees Monday off so they could travel to watch races.  (And the end of this policy coincides with NASCARs numbers dropping)

Apple could save the Chinese Grand Prix with the same policy...

[cosworth151]

I started writing software in Fortran IV back in the 70's & I still do it for a living. I'm still waiting to have my first positive experience with Apple.

[Monty]

Apple could save the Chinese Grand Prix with the same policy...

Few problems here - most of the employees associated with Apple manufacturing in China are based in South China - a long flight from Shanghai.
The Shanghai circuit is nowhere near Shanghai and there is no public transport! (it took me over an hour by car).
The cost of entry would be between 1month and 2months salary for a production worker.
Basically, I cannot ever see the Shanghai Grand Prix meaning anything to the average Chinese worker - however, it is a fantastic track with incredible facilities and if you go for the whole day you can have it pretty much to yourself except for the period between about 15minutes after the F1 race starts to about 60seconds after the F1 race finishes!

[Jericoke]

I started writing software in Fortran IV back in the 70's & I still do it for a living. I'm still waiting to have my first positive experience with Apple.

My first 'real' computer was an Apple IIe
I can't say if it was good or not compared with the competition, but it was good enough for me to get into computers.

Generally I come down on the 'not Apple' side of the debate.  But even Microsoft acknowledged how important a healthy Apple was to the computer business when they paid Apple's bills for a few months in the 90s.

Basically, I think anyone who is willing to pay Apple prices is silly.  I don't think that Apple offers great value.  At the same time, if people want to pay more, I'm not going to complain about it.  That's just business.

[Scott]

I started writing software in Fortran IV back in the 70's & I still do it for a living. I'm still waiting to have my first positive experience with Apple.

You still write Fortran for a living?  Oh Cos, I'm so sorry... 

Apple costs more because

a) it looks better on a desk/lap/pocket
b) it works well (call it simply) with all your devices, as long as they are also Apple
c) because it's OS is based on Unix, and smart guys who write Unix cost more money.
d) until recently it has run almost virus free on the internet, and even now it is of very little concern.

That's just an opinion...

[Jericoke]

I started writing software in Fortran IV back in the 70's & I still do it for a living. I'm still waiting to have my first positive experience with Apple.

You still write Fortran for a living?  Oh Cos, I'm so sorry... 

Apple costs more because

a) it looks better on a desk/lap/pocket
b) it works well (call it simply) with all your devices, as long as they are also Apple
c) because it's OS is based on Unix, and smart guys who write Unix cost more money.
d) until recently it has run almost virus free on the internet, and even now it is of very little concern.

That's just an opinion...

At least Fortran is from the 20th century

Running an Inn has got to be (almost) the oldest profession

I always did get a chuckle from security through obscurity.  Honestly, if it works, it works.

I think Apple is a great company that generally knows what they're doing.  I think they will provide some innovations to the business side of F1 that it sorely needs, and also allow some innovation from the technical side, which is why a partnership makes sense.  They'll make some mistakes, but anyone who buys F1 will make mistakes.  Apple can lose a billion dollars on F1 and not sweat it though.  Someone else might find themselves selling right back to a small Englishman like emTV did

[cosworth151]

a) it looks better on a desk/lap/pocket

Well, I suppose some people like mullets & Pontiac Azteks, too. 

b.) it works well (call it simply) with all your devices, as long as they are also Apple

Whereas Windows & Linux work with nearly everything.

You still write Fortran for a living?  Oh Cos, I'm so sorry...

This sounds like a joke, but it's sadly true:

http://www.federaltimes.com/story/government/it/2016/05/26/floppy-disks-cobol-code-obsolete-not-many-federal-agencies/84986520/

[lkjohnson1950]

Henry Ford was not a nice man. You can read about his general nastiness several places on the internet. However, he and a number of the other so called Robber Barons knew that long term success means occasionally sacrificing short term profits. This rule of business has been largely forgotten by today's CEOs. Short term profits rule the marketplace in the 21ST century. Bernie is no exception. He is gouging F1 for short term profit at the expense of long term viability. It is the modern business model and he is very good at it. Whatever you may think of Apple, they reinvest a good deal of their income in their product and they know their customer base, two qualities Bernie seems to lack. If Apple took over F1, I think it would be interesting, and possibly good for F1 in the long run. Quien sabe?