Shares of Sony rose nearly 3% on Tuesday as traders cited various media reports speculating that the Japanese electronics maker could be a potential acquisition target of Apple to help it jump into the gaming industry.

Apple currently has US$50 billion in cash reserves and has a market capitalization of $282 billion while Sony has a market cap of $34 billion. Financially Sony is within Apple’s reach.

But what good reasons are there for Apple to want to buy Sony? Between the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Apple App Store, the Mac and the upcoming Mac App Store, Jobs & Company have all the pieces they need to make a serious play for the gaming market should they so desire. The Sellers Research firm is 99.99% certain that Apple isn’t planning on buying Sony (or any other major company at this time).

— Dennis Sellers