Will Apple invest in Twitter?

Apple may invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Twitter, according to an unnamed resource, The New York Times reported last Friday.


If it is true, “The deal would have valued Twitter at more than US$10 billion,” the NYT stated.

The Wall Street Journal also pointed out that Apple’s discussions with Twitter were more than a year ago, citing a person familiar with the matter, though there is no current formal investment or acquisition talks between the companies.

Although dominating the hardware world of smart devices, Apple has no power in the field of social media, not to mention competing with the largest dominant, Facebook. Apple launched Ping in September 2010, a social network for music, as the first step to get into the world of social media.

Since then, Apple has taken a different approach. Forbes analyses Apple’s strategy: In June 2011, Apple announced it would integrate support for Twitter into its mobile operating system. Last month, Apple said it would do the same with Facebook. Such support extends Apple’s reach into social networks it hasn’t been able to build on its own.

Many critics think that Apple won't take a stake in Twitter because of the timing as well as Apple's investment strategy. Apple is famous for buying small tech companies and incorporating their technologies into its own products rather than making strategic investments, Harry Mccracken ,TIME’s Techland blogger, wrote.

Matt Marshall, the founder of VentureBeat, pointed out that Apple doesn’t have to invest in Twitter because it began working with Facebook closely to integrate Facebook deeply into Apple’s latest operating system, iOS 6.

While the rumors shake the valley, Bloomberg noted that the two companies held talks more than a year ago but never reached any agreement. Neither Apple nor Twitter responded to the NYT’s report.

Image: 9 to 5 Mac