Apple and Microsoft ‘may merge in five years’

Two of tech's biggest players, Microsoft and Apple, could merge into one company as early as 2018.

This is the belief of Keith Fitz-Gerald, an independent analyst and futurist based in the US, Who made the prediction on Fox Business' The Big Story programme.

"This is one of those unthinkable but absolutely possible deals I think that Apple and Microsoft may not only have to work together for the next few years, but may even see a merger five to 10 years from now" said Fitz-Gerald.

The analyst based his prediction on the fact that the two 70s-founded firms will, in his opinion, have to fend off increasing competition from younger companies such as Facebook and Google.

Fitz-Gerald confirmed he did not have any insider knowledge of merger discussions or courtship between the one-time vicious rivals, saying it was "absolute speculation" on his part and has described it as "off the wall" in his own blog.

"But, if you look at what Apple wants to accomplish with the mobile market, you look at the One Microsoft initiative, and you look at cross pollination of devices [there is a case for a merger]," he added.

Despite talking up Google's ever-increasing importance on the technology scene, the analyst has previously said that "Google ... [is] using some of the same terminology I remember hearing back in the dot-bomb day (sic)," and warned investors to "tread carefully".

Fitz-Gerald also talked up anti-malware vendor AVG, saying its freemium model of pricing is particularly strong and has made the vendor "bigger than [rivals] Norton AnitVirus [and] ... Kaspersky".