What if MS buys RIM...

[3migo]

Haha tell me about it. My BlackBerry Tour used to take 5 minutes to boot. I hear with the new OS and new phones they fixed that.

The new OS7 devices boot up in about a minute.

 

[illegaloperation]

If Microsoft buy RIM (which makes no sense), it will just be competing against its own OEMs.

Microsoft now has a big advantage: OEMs disgusted by Google buying Motorola will give more effort to Windows Phone.

Perhaps the most valuable thing RIM has is its patents which Microsoft can simply license from RIM.

 

[Rico]

Three CEOs.

 

[wellsmanfu]

MS buying RIM wouldn't be the best idea. Like others have said, they're just too different and the little benefits for WP7 would not be worth the cost.

If anything, I'd rather see MS somehow buy the rights to WebOS from HP if possible. There's a lot of good in the platform, it was just too little too late from Palm and the initial hardware sucked. Imagine your WP7 phone with the great multitasking that WebOS has and the universal search that it has. I thought those were great. They have been out for a couple years now and , in my opinion, they are still better than anything the other guys have made. Plus MS with their patent portfolio with the Palm patent portfolio could make them almost untouchable in court and a very scary target to go after.

 

[GekkoAce]

MS buying RIM wouldn't be the best idea. Like others have said, they're just too different and the little benefits for WP7 would not be worth the cost.

If anything, I'd rather see MS somehow buy the rights to WebOS from HP if possible. There's a lot of good in the platform, it was just too little too late from Palm and the initial hardware sucked. Imagine your WP7 phone with the great multitasking that WebOS has and the universal search that it has. I thought those were great. They have been out for a couple years now and , in my opinion, they are still better than anything the other guys have made. Plus MS with their patent portfolio with the Palm patent portfolio could make them almost untouchable in court and a very scary target to go after.

MS is already planning universal search (see article with leaked Tango pics). I like the way multitasking works in Mango.

 

[smartpatrol]

RIM is a company worth over $14 billion, with 17,500 employees.

There's just no way in **** Microsoft will buy RIM any time soon. The only thing MS could do is put WP7 on Blackberry devices, and make BBM and BBE a standard part of WP7. All they would accomplish is pissing of their handset partners now that they're in the hardware business.

If MS buys RIM, it will be in another couple of years, when/if RIM loses a ton of market share. Then MS could buy the company at a bargain price just for the patents. But it's not going to happen any time soon.

 

[Umm Yeah]

I think the only security issue people might have a problem with is lack of full device encryption. Other than that I don't see how anyone could complain about security.

I always thought the idea of BB being the most secure was a joke. Everything runs through RIM's servers and they readily hand over their data to any government that asks for it.

You're right. Everything does run through RIM's servers. With WP7, everything runs through MS servers for Hotmail or Google's servers for Gmail, or Facebook's servers or Twitter's servers, etc. And all of those companies have a vested interest in mining that data to target you for ads and other purposes. RIM has their whole existence tied to maintaining the security of the data that runs through their servers and do not mine the data for any other purpose.

I'm not saying that the trade off may not be worth it to you or me, for that matter, but it should be recognized as a key strategic difference between the two operating systems.

And of course, RIM will hand over data if compelled to do so by a government. They have to operate legally. Find me a company that will not turn over data it collects if compelled to do so by the government and I'll show you a company that will not be operating in that country for very long.

 

[GekkoAce]

RIM is a company worth over $14 billion, with 17,500 employees.

There's just no way in **** Microsoft will buy RIM any time soon. The only thing MS could do is put WP7 on Blackberry devices, and make BBM and BBE a standard part of WP7. All they would accomplish is pissing of their handset partners now that they're in the hardware business.

If MS buys RIM, it will be in another couple of years, when/if RIM loses a ton of market share. Then MS could buy the company at a bargain price just for the patents. But it's not going to happen any time soon.

Your numbers are off... Their Current market cap is 13.9B (US) and that's AFTER last weeks >5% increase because of Google buying Motorola. 13.9B is no where near their markat cap in 2008 of over $70 billion (US). Or.. Even Feb2011 when they were still worth over 35 billion. Like I said, people were speculating if they dropped below 15 billion they'd likely be bought by someone. They have lost a ton of market share. Maybe 14 billion sounds like a lot to us... But MS is worth over 201 billion and has at least 9 billion of cash to spend.