TechCrunch: Apple to Acquire Snapguide, Even After the Latter Denies It

TechCrunch is reporting Apple might be acquiring Snapguide, even though the latter’s co-founder Daniel Raffel responded and denied any discussions with Apple:

“Snapguide has not been acquired by, nor is in acquisition conversations with, Apple,” he said, “While we have a ton of respect for Apple, and love developing products on iOS, it would be inaccurate to imply that either an acquisition or M&A conversation has occurred (or is occurring). We’re excited about the company that we’re building, the opportunity in front of us and are looking forward to the release of a major product update in the near future.”

Even with this denial from Snapguide, TechCrunch still believes Apple is looking to acquire the simple and effective DIY app (Kris Meador reviewed Snapguide back in April), based on the following tips they have received:

But! (There’s always a But.) Here are the various tips that we have heard, and what we’d like to share with you, dear readers. We can’t confirm any of it is true. We’re laying it out here:

• Apple has approached the company for a sale. The price we’ve heard was around $45 million.
• It’s not the first company to court Snapguide, whose list of suitors includes some major players.
• Apple has done due diligence on both Raffel and his co-founder, Steve Krulewitz.
• Raffel was recently seen having dinner with Apple VP of Industrial Design Jony Ive.

Last Sunday, TechCrunch reported WhatsApp was in talks to be acquired by Facebook, which caused a slight media frenzy. The report turned out to be false as WhatsApp denounced the story to AllThingsD.

Well played TechCrunch. Well played.