Doubting the rumor that Apple will buy Barnes & Noble, Technologizer’s Harry McCracken runs through a brief history of Apple not buying Universal Music, Pixar, TiVo, Palm, Sun Disney, Nintendo, AMD, Sony, Yahoo, EA, Twitter, Facebook, Netflix, and Hulu:
For years, Apple has confounded the rest of us by not buying things that it should clearly be buying. Not purchasing other well-known companies is so core to Apple’s strategy that it must have a whole department devoted to non-mergers and un-acquisitions. …
Now, take this for what it’s worth–remember, I’m not a professional analyst–but a careful reading of history indicates that the news of Apple’s discussions with Barnes & Noble can lead to only one outcome: Apple not buying Barnes & Noble.