IBM should....

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

...buy Apple and fire Tim Cook.

 IBM is - by far - the best tech company on earth‎, reentry into the computer hardware business at this point makes sense because; 1)we are about to enter a massive corporate hardware upgrade cycle, 2)IBM just unveiled a 7nm chip and 3)Apple has a good mobile business along with it.

2014 marked the 22nd year in a row that IBM received more patents than any other company on earth. A lot of 2014 patents centered around‎ cloud computing and cognitive computing(Watson); in 2015 they are leading the way agan in cloud computing patents.  Considering that IBM is already teaming with Apple for enterprise solutions, and IBM is upgrading their employees to Apple products - the picture becomes even more clear as to why IBM should add Apple to the patent portfolio. 

IBM Breaks U.S. Patent Record

[Opti]

Congrats to IBM, but with the breakup of AT&T, there isn't the competition for research & patents like there was back in the 1980s when both IBM and AT&T each had a premier research facility.

And Hell No, to your idea. IBM is not the best tech company and no way no how is it the best computer company. IBM has been on a buying spree much like Pharma companies, hospitals, etc. have been. My guess is some of their patents may have even come from Rivermine, formerly one of the good telecom expense management firms. Now(last couple years or so) swallowed up by IBM to join the I've Been Moved group of companies.

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

IBM at alomst 105 yrs young, is the best tech company in history thus far because they have stood the test of time and it has always been able to be reinvented. What is going on currently is no different and yes, part of that is because they have the capital to acquire. However, part of that is because they come in from left field with something like a 7nm chip - which is license that will print money...

Also, I didn't come close to saying they were the best computer company, what I was saying in my hypothesis/jab at Apple's fall from grace was that IBM could enter the computer market again by buying Apple.

Honestly, I know IBM will most likely never buy Apple, but I'd bet IBM will be around long after Apple.

[Opti]

Aham, I am biased. I have never worked directly for IBM, though I have worked for IBM as a contractor. I think AT&T was superior, and some of its piece parts still kick ass. I know quite a few IBMers but actually none of their researchers. I know lots of current and former AT&T, Bell Labs, and some professors at Purdue and other universities that do research. I also have history working with computers and in the information technology/computer area since the 1980s.

IBM is mainframes. IBM turned down buying the Microsoft operating system. It screwed up on the PC. It doubled down on mainframes and then finally sucked it up to create its own UNIX variant. In true IBM fashion, it is the most locked down of UNIXes(or was) and used to require an IBM tech and the $$ service dollars to fix. (AIX)

What IBM has always been exceptional at is marketing. In the beginning days of UNIX, created by Bell Labs scientists BTW, IBM used to send out 10 marketing people to every 1 sales person of AT&T. AT&T was a monopoly, by the grace of the US government which as a utility gave back neat patent crap like the transistor, fuzzy logic, the HDTV standard, etc. Again I'm biased, I knew some of the folks in research in computing for AT&T Bell Labs. While some now belong to Acatel or whatever it is/Lucent(AT&T piece part) there is still some of AT&T labs left which is actually older than IBM.  (1901)

www.corp.att.com/attlabs/

AT&T you rock,

thank you Xerox Parc for your ground breaking stuff(windows, the original)

Apple

Netscape

and others

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

I agree that IBM missed the boat with Microsoft and screwed themselves in the PC market, and since you're only looking at that time period I can see why you're bias.‎

But come on, the computer wouldn't even exist as it does today if it weren't for IBM. IBM pioneered electric data processing , invented FORTRAN, the HDD, DRAM, and their SOI technology is going to propel us forward in microchip development - the 7nm chip thing again.. Going forward they are the only company on earth that has fully functional cognitive computing going on a commercial scale‎, and this will without a doubt start translating across into their cloud computing department  - which has filed more patents than any other cloud computing company company so far this year.

I'll give ya that some parts of tech companies that have been bought by other companies are older than IBM.

And hey, maybe there is still hope for IBM in the PC department. They can still buy out Apple as I'm suggesting, and as this corporate hardware cycle kicks into gear over the next 4-5 years they would gain a substantial foothold to build the computer division they should have always had. Plus, they would have a mobile division to boot!

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

Unreal. I swear I do not work for either IBM or Apple. Nor do I know anyone that works for either one of these companies.

Step one in acquiring Apple complete.

In a huge move, IBM begins pitching Apple Macs for enterprise IT