File Under Er, No: Apple Buying Barnes & Noble
Rumor so odd it’s worth mentioning: Apple buying Barnes & Noble, the venerable bookstore chain now in a much stronger position due to Borders going under… but not that much stronger because Amazon will eventually render it obsolete.
Reasons floated are killing the Nook hardware and folding its content into iBooks, and turning a few of the stores into Apple Stores while shuttering the rest. This makes as much sense as Apple purchasing Blockbuster and doing the same with their videos and empty storefronts.
I’d file this in the same folder as the Apple bidding on Hulu rumor, and with Apple on track toward becoming the most valuable company in the world, I expect rumors of this sort to continue. Along with Apple remaining extremely selective.
PS: Friendly bet If Apple does buy Barnes & Noble, I’ll buy a Google TV.
It’s definitely amateur night with the Apple rumors lately. Almost none of the current rumors make any sense. People are simply pulling things from their behinds.
iPad 3 coming in September? No, make that just after Thanksgiving. Apple buying Hulu and Barnes and Noble, because after all, they sell movies and books, so why not?
People who know nothing about how Apple operates speculating about what Apple will do next. It’s not even amusing anymore.
I think John Gruber has it right. With the exception of the “lost” iPhone 4 last year, Apple has gotten better than ever about locking down the information sources. So the people who make a living on the Apple rumor mill (the hack writers and the day traders on Wall Street) are getting desperate.
Part of the rumor-silliness might be the general predictability of Apple’s announcements this year, so far: iPad 2. WWDC. Lion. MacBook Airs / Minis. Now it’s iPhone 5, maybe a cheaper iPhone 4 or iPad 3. Not really much you or I wasn’t able to foresee. That combined with the lock down you mention means, yeah, people are essentially dreaming stuff up. But at least some of us make educated guesses with heavy doses of restraint.