Apple's head of mergers and acquisitions, Adrian Perica, met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk last spring, around the time when analysts recommended that Apple buy the electric car company, a source told The San Francisco Chronicle.

Apple wants to ease its dependency on iPhones and iPads to boost sales growth. "Apple must increasingly rely on new products to reignite growth beyond the vision" of founder Steve Jobs, Bill Kreher, an analyst with Edward Jones Investments, told The Chronicle.

"They need the next big thing."

Editor’s Note: 5 Shocking Reasons the Dow Will Hit 60,000

Apple has been on a takeover binge as of late. It spent $525 on acquisitions in the quarter ended Dec. 28, almost double what it doled out for the whole prior year.

Analysts don't see a clear incentive for Tesla to sell to Apple.

"They'd get access to deep pockets, but Tesla's got access to Wall Street right now," Andrea James, who follows Tesla for Dougherty & Co. investment bank, told The Chronicle. "I could see a partnership more than a takeout."

A partnership might consist of a large Apple touch-screen on Tesla's dashboard, according to the paper.

Apple's effort to expand means "the company is increasingly going to look less like a Silicon Valley start-up and more like GE: a mature, entrenched company completely dedicated to improvement and incremental innovation on a global basis," writes Dominic Basulto of The Washington Post.

"With a market capitalization of nearly $500 billion and more than $150 billion in cash reserves, Apple can no longer pretend that it is immune to the same market forces that require revenue and profitability growth on a quarterly basis."

Editor’s Note: 5 Shocking Reasons the Dow Will Hit 60,000

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