Apple's Cash Hoard Triggers Acqusition Rumors: Twitter, Electronic Arts

Apple now has nearly $29 billion in cash reserves which has generated ongoing speculation about what Apple could or should do with that money.

"I think the pressure is definitely mounting," said Scotia Capital analyst Gus Papageorgiou. "It's just too big a number ... the cash belongs to the shareholders, the shareholders don't need Apple to invest the cash, they need Apple to generate the cash."

Apple's official response to questions about the money came from Apple's CFO Peter Oppenheimer in April when he said "We are investing it very conservatively, I'm comfortable with our investment portfolio and in these times having the cash feels very good to us."

The rumor mill it seems has other plans for Apple's cash reserves. Yesterday, two somewhat questionable acquisition targets emerged from various sources. We originally reported them on our Page 2 but summarize them here for interest:

Apple to Acquire Twitter for $700 million? - Twitter.com is a social messaging platform that allows users to broadcast short messages to "followers". It's seen a massive growth in usage recently due to a number of celebrity participants. Sources on this rumor seem inconsistent and the reason why Apple might even be interested in Twitter is unclear.

Apple to Take Over Electronic Arts? - EA is long time gaming company. Again, Apple's interest in such a company seems questionable and the source is described as "sketchy, at best".