TheDeal.com reports on rumors that Steve Jobs is looking at the possibility of breaking Apple up into a software company and a hardware company along the lines of what is happening with Palm at the moment:
Splitting this proprietary computer hardware and software maker would enable both units to compete more ruthlessly in today’s cutthroat tech environment. A separate Apple software unit would be far better able to challenge Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating system for market share. And a separate Apple hardware unit would become a true PC maker, not just a maker of Macs, broadening its sales horizon, too.
There are about a million reasons why this is unlikely to happen, but with Apple’s share price down, the article notes, the prospect of a break up is mighty attractive to Wall Street analysts who see the company as being worth less than the sum of its parts.
