Virgin Boss Wants To Merge With Apple?

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Apple’s Steve Jobs is a pretty well-liked guy. I mean, US President Barack Obama has done everything he can to be associated with the man, from meeting with him multiple times and even name dropping Jobs during a public address. And, Steve has another powerful admirer. During an interview, Sir Richard Branson, head of the gigantic Virgin Group said that he admires Steve Jobs, and wouldn’t mind merging with Apple if the combined company was named Virgin Apple.

Here’s what Branson said to TechRadar:

Everything he does is real class and if he wants to rename his company Virgin Apple I’d be happy to merge! It’s a great brand and a great company and may he get well soon.

Some how I doubt that Steve and Apple would go for merging, nevertheless naming the new company that. But Jobs and Branson both similar personal histories. Jobs started Apple in his parents garage with Steve Wozniak while Branson started Virgin Records by selling albums out of his truck (or, ahem, boot) of his car.

Branson added that the first iPad is his favorite gadget, and he’s looking forward to the iPad 2. But, Sir Branson did show a bit of business savy when he spoke briefly about Android:

Whether Apple can stay ahead of the game with all the competition with Google [Android] and putting it on every single bit of electronic equipment I don’t know. There’s a possibility that Apple won’t reign supreme indefinitely.

I can’t help but think that Virgin and Apple are actually sort of competitors. I mean, Virgin Mobile in the UK sells Android phones and Virgin Records competes with iTunes. But, Branson seems like the sort of man who would like Jobs no matter what mid-level manager in his company told him about chumming up with the competition.