Apple seems to have its eye on fledgling social commerce startup The Fancy. Apple CEO Tim Cook has reportedly been meeting with Joe Einhorn, his counterpart at The Fancy, regarding a possible acquisition. To read some tea leaves, Cook opened a Fancy account soon after the two sat down at Allen & Co.’s Sun Valley conference earlier this year. The company’s numbers look healthy: It has 20 employees and earns around $10,000 per day in sales. Valued at $100 million, it boasts Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey among its early investors. It recently received $10 million in funding from PPR, the conglomerate behind Gucci. Why a social commerce network? The Fancy would provide a near-perfect platform Apple could use to sell physical goods. It's certainly possible Cook views it as something that could be completely integrated with iOS. Couple that with PassBook, Apple’s new virtual wallet, and you'd have a substantial online retail platform. Since Amazon has started treading in Apple's territory, Cupertino looks ready to fire back.

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