Apple Creating a search engine ?

TechCrunch is reporting today that it has heard some rumblings about the possibility of Apple developing a search engine to compete with Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. According to the publication, it believes that Apple's reason for doing so is its desire to find another avenue of monetization for all the traffic it can capture through its Safari browser and elsewhere across the Web.

But after some digging, TechCrunch found that the chances of Apple working on a search engine in secret right now are relatively low and the Silicon Valley has heard little about the possibility of Apple turning to another sector in the industry.

I don't think there's any debating that the rumors are false and the very idea that Apple will develop a search engine sounds ridiculous. Apple's current strategy is tied to its hardware and there's no reason for the company to jump into another market.