Will we ever see the day when Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) merge into a single company? One analyst thinks so. Money Map Press analyst Keith Fitz-Gerald made his case on Fox Business this week.
Microsoft, Apple to take on Google, Facebook?
The analyst said he sees a merger between Apple and Microsoft as being a possibility over the next five to ten years because the two companies are going to have to battle Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), its Android operating system and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB).
Host Stuart Varney brought up the first thing that came to my mind when Fitz-Gerald made his speculation. Would regulators really allow the two companies to merge? It seems unlikely.
Analyst makes the case for a Microsoft – Apple merger
Fitz-Gerald notes the importance of content and security as well as the user base which is segmented into the Millennial users who are already hyper-acclimated to technology, and the Baby Boomers, who are adopting it more slowly. He noted also that when he bought a new television with “50 different social apps preloaded into it.” He said although he didn’t care about that, what intrigued him the most was being able to go from device to device using the different services “because it’s all plugged into the same stuff now.”
So what do you think about a merger between Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). Again, I would reiterate the point that regulators probably wouldn’t allow it. Microsoft was already in a bit of a bind years ago when it threw Apple a bone to keep the Mac operating system in existence so that Microsoft wouldn’t face antitrust issues over Windows.
So would the two really be able to merge? Probably not, although other partnerships between them could become a possibility—if they both became desperate enough. And that’s a very big if.
