Apple seeks deals as Jobs meets big media

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is heading to the exclusive Allen & Co. media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, where he'll press the flesh of media moguls as he continues to build out Apple's media-savvy 21st Century tech hub strategy.

Could there be more than this in the Jobs itinerary?

There's talk this morning that Apple's shopping for key strategic deals.

Apple appears willing to consider more expensive investments, with acquisitions of up to a billion dollars whispered about.

Dan Frommer at Silicon Alley Insider says even after purchasing Quattro Wireless, Lala, Intrinsity, and Siri,

Perica, by the way, is a mergers and acquisitions specialist, former Goldman Sachs banker, and former 'intelligence officer', Frommer informs us. There's a little more on Perica here.

The author learned all this from the after-meal gossip at a business leader's dinner he moderated last night,

Big on TV?

He also learned that speculation claims Apple's next big move will be something to do with television, making a few days at a media moguls business holiday camp even more interesting.

Apple's rebranding of its iPhone to iOS could be part of a move to diversify beyond the iPhone. We saw rumors last week Apple may rebrand its entire OS line behind the iOS name, including Mac OS X.

That's even discounting expectations of Macs running iOS apps in future.

Jobs' attendance at the media industry event is a natural fit.

Not only is he CEO of Apple, but also Disney's biggest single shareholder and the former owner of Pixar, sale of which is how he got those Disney shares.

His appearance comes scant weeks after his statements at D:All Things Digital in which he said the television industry business model needs change to make products like the Apple TV truly successful.

Bear in mind that the Sun Valley conference has traditionally been a place to make deals. Walt Disney developed its $19.5 billion purchase of Capital Cities/ABC there, Business Week tells us.

Who else will be there? Well, here's the household names: Rupert Murdoch, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Bob Iger, Mark Zuckerberg and former Jobs ally, Eric Schmidt. And those are just the more exposed execs.

Media execs to look to Apple versus Google?

Could Apple and Google be about to use this space to out-do each other in a wave of media-savvy business deals?

Beyond Apple's business expansion, there's also the possibility Jobs hopes to use the event to find another board member to supplement the company's relatively meager six-person board.

A board which currently lacks anyone with a media background -- a strange omission when considering Apple's ascendance in the media industry.

And that's before giving any consideration whatsoever to any internal Apple plans to build out its senior level teams as part of its need to ensure strong secession plans are in place for a future time after Jobs.

Who's on board?

After all, where will Apple find a visionary marketer with a deep understanding of the consumer markets?

Someone who combines that with an intelligent comprehension of how technology can be used to meet needs as innately complicated within devices as outwardly simple as the iPod, iPad or iPhone?

Allen & Company is a New York investment bank founded in 1922 by Charles Allen. It is seen as the leading investment house in the media and entertainment sector.

The company is currently run by the publicity-shy Herb Allen. (The company underwrote the Google IPO, by the way).

The event takes place in July.

UPDATE: Since this report was written fresh information has emerged which suggests Jobs may not attend the event after all -- despite this, the Google versus Apple debate is expected to dominate discussions.