Should Apple buy Sonos?

That’s a question that’s been bouncing around CNet for most of the day today, based on analysis found in a white paper from William Blair analysts, that summarized their findings thusly:

• Apple should enter the home audio networking market to extend iTunes and provide subscription services;
• Sonos would round out Apple’s lineup;
• There’s a lot of headroom in the home audio networking market.

such a move would definitely be a win-win situation for both sides: Apple gets a home networking giant   with a huge line of compatible tech, which allows it to improve market penetration for its iPod line, while in turn Sonos gets a huge bump to its stock price, at least two dollars a share by William Blair’s estimates.  Frankly I figure it would probably do a little bit better than that, because a company no one’s ever heard of getting bought by one of the biggest names in the industry is a lot like Google buying Timmy’s Tech World.  Plenty of opportunists will want to get in as close to the ground floor as possible,  And do so while the stock price is still relatively cheap.

So it probably would be for the best if Apple did buy Sonos, though I do have to wonder if Apple may not be better served by improving its own internal development first.  But, nothing like hitting the ground running.