I just dug up this article from August 2006 where Robert Young suggests Steve Jobs should buy YouTube because “the online video phenom can be to the video iPod what iTunes was to the audio iPod.”
Young said YouTube could also be a platform for a “highly-coveted stream of online ad revenues, particularly within the fast-growth, high-CPM video ad segment.”
Young’s article was written before Google bought YouTube, so a buy-out isn’t looking too good for Apple now. But it’s interesting to think about what YouTube could have meant for Apple now with the coming iPhone in addition to the iPod.
Apple could build a feature into iPhone to allow users to share YouTube videos via their phones. They could also somehow integrate Visual Voicemail into YouTube, perhaps by letting users insert video clips into their phone messages. I imagine this would make the iPhone that much more appealing to younger consumers.
Too late for Jobs to buy YouTube but why doesn’t he buy EMI, one of the big five music groups? A quick web search will reveal it has been very hard hit by the slump in the CD sales. It owns the world’s biggest and most valuable back catalog, inc the Beatles, the Rolling Stones etc, as well as many huge contemporary acts eg ColdPlay and Placebo (massive in Europe). The company’s portfolio would fit well with Job’s future need for exclusive content, when the regulators force iTunes into inteoperability. After all, Jobs has de facto control another content provider already, Disney.