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As iPhone launch nearers, rumours: Apple plus Microsoft? or Apple plus Google? Can St Steve Jobs move up a plane?

Scepticism about the launch of the Apple iPhone is growing, and it isn't helping the Apple share price. What a coincidence that exactly as things get tougher in the stock market, rumours start appearing that will "cause a 40% premium on the Apple share price"!

The rumours simply say that Google may buy Apple. The original idea is buried deep in a New York Magazine hagiography by John Heilemann, mostly saying how the appearance of failing physical health actually marks his ascendance to a Higher Plane of guruhood.

The references to Google in that article are cryptic:

MySpace and Snocap are not alone. Last month, Amazon.com announced it would, at long last, dive into music retailing and open up a download store by the end of the year that will offer DRM-free MP3s. At the outset, the Amazon storefront will be stocked only with tracks from independent labels and one major, EMI. But the widespread expectation is that other majors will soon hop on the bandwagon. Universal, for one, is already experimenting with unprotected files in Europe. And the company is reportedly talking with Google about a deal to sell MP3s.

Maybe Jobs’s queasiness with thinking about legacy comes from the pancreatic-cancer scare he received, and eluded, a few years ago. Or perhaps it comes from another sort of brush with death—the Apple stock-option backdating scandal that embroiled him recently—which he also has managed to survive. Some of his friends say these close calls have mellowed him. "I see him around the neighborhood," says one. "He looks different than he did a few years ago. I think he may want to do something else."

Say what? "I think that Google is going to buy Apple," this person says. "It would be a victory for Apple; they’d get major-league partners, money, and engineers. And it would be a victory for Steve—a huge win that lets him leave the stage."

An unnamed source, a story described as "speculation" - why do people want to believe it?

You may as well ask: "Why do people want to believe that the iPhone - still not available! - has twice the battery life of other GSM phones of the same size? and is an incumbent in its market?" Just google for "iphone killer" to see how awful public perception is! Nearly a million hits!

The answer: Jobs talks to journalists who worship him.

If you want to get interviews with Steve, you won't do it by writing sceptical columns. And an interview with Jobs is gold for a publication, so don't be too surprised to find one in New York Magazine soon...

As for the suggestion that Microsoft would be a better partner for Apple, ignore it! The rivalry between Jobs and Gates is not going to end. Do business with each other? sure! but let either of them gain ascendancy? NEVER!

And anyway, rumours of a Microsoft takeover won't do as much for the Apple share price...