Will Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) get Twitter Inc.? Will Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) finalize a search deal with Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO)? And/or will Microsoft scoop up Twitter? These are the questions keeping those of us who follow tech deals up at night.
The pairing that appears to be furthest along is the one between Microsoft and Yahoo!, with BoomTown's Kara Swisher predicting that a deal could be struck within the next few weeks. She says "the latest idea is one in which Yahoo (YHOO) would take over both search and display advertising sales and Microsoft (MSFT) would run the tech for both behind the scenes."
Armchair quarterbacks are coaching Microsoft to make Twitter its goal.
"If Redmond really wants to carve into's Google search business over the next 10 years, it needs to offer whatever it takes -- $800 million? $1 billion? more? -- to buy Twitter right now," urges Silicon Alley Insider's Nicholas Carlson.
"We believe Twitter is the first startup since Google to have created a new and popular way for people to use the Internet to discover content and research products they want to buy," continues Carlson. "It's created a new kind of search."
I agree with Carlson that Twitter is a game changer, but I think it will have a more interesting and innovative playbook if the venture-backed startup stays independent, as founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone say they want to keep it.
To what exent is all the rumormongering just a ploy on the part of tech bloggers (myself included) to lure Internet traffic our way? Swisher has a funny take on that one with her AppleTwitter Brangelina post.
Speaking of gimmicks to grow our audiences, do me a favor and follow me on Twitter @MKFlynn. - Mary Kathleen Flynn
Continue reading below
As much as the rumor mill is pushing the Twitter acquisition story, it flies in the face of common sense.
http://pacificgatepost.blogspot.com/2009/05/common-sense-apple-will-not-twitter.html
Apple is NOT eBay.