Microsoft to buy BlackBerry creator?
updated 02:35 pm EDT, Thu August 30, 2007
Microsoft RIM Buyout Rumor
Microsoft may be interested in buying out Canada's Research in Motion, according to speculation by analysts and market observers. The action would reportedly be a preemptive move to shore up defenses against a rumored Google mobile OS that could pose a direct threat to Windows Mobile on cellphones. The claims have spurred a run on stocks of the Waterloo, Canada-based BlackBerry maker, which said it would never comment on "rumors and speculation" out of company policy, according to an official spokeswoman.
While the claim has so far been uncorroborated, a takeover of RIM would greatly consolidate Microsoft's share of the smartphone business as it would own both hardware and software, contrasting with the company's historical approach of licensing Windows Mobile to multiple handset makers. In contrast to its control of the computer market, Microsoft has typically lagged well behind the BlackBerry line in the US and the Symbian OS used by Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, and other manufacturers on the world stage.
A takeover may also be an attempt by Microsoft to mimic its strategy for the Zune, where the company largely abandoned an attempt to create an industry-wide (but Windows-based) standard in favor of an integrated design similar to that of the iPod. No mention was made in the speculation of whether Apple's early success with the iPhone would play into a possible Microsoft bid for RIM, which recently began enjoying its own success with the advent of the BlackBerry Curve and Pearl media phones.
That's insane....
08/30, 02:58pm reply
Why does Microsoft need to get into cellphones? Why doesn't MS just put more effort into improving their mobile OS? If that's the case, why not purchase an appliance company and start putting Windows in refrigerators and washing machines. Someone had told me that the cellphone industry is already saturated, so why bother. I know this story is all speculation, but it just seems it would be a waste of money to buy out such an expensive company such as RIM.
Constable Odo
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Joined: Aug 2007
re: that's insanse...
08/30, 03:33pm reply
That's what Microsoft does - if someone somewhere is successful in the high tech industry, MS will try to buy their way in.
Why did MS need to get into video games? Why did MS need to get into broadcasting? Why did MS need to get into music players?
If MS succeeded by making good products, then we wouldn't have a problem. But MS succeeds by buying their way in each and every time.
The only products MS ever succeeded with by producing themselves was MS Word and Excel.
hayesk
Professional Poster
Joined: Sep 1999
awesome
08/30, 03:57pm reply
now i will be able to get a halo version of a blackberry.
Herod
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Joined: Jun 2007
MS & Broadcasting
08/30, 04:10pm reply
Of course, Microsoft's move into the media space with NBC, c|net and the like gives them some control over how their own activities are reported. Guess they couldn't just buy Fox news on account of it already being "bought" by Bush.
Feathers
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 1999
Change That Name
08/30, 04:11pm reply
It would serve them well to call the new subsidiary Research in Standstill
Guest
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Joined: Nov 1999
Another thought...
08/30, 04:11pm reply
...who's going to boast about having a micro soft rim? Matron!
Feathers
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 1999
Wow.
08/30, 04:31pm reply
That might literally be the technological equivalent of killing two birds with one stone.
gambit23
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Joined: Nov 2004
LOL
08/30, 04:49pm reply
They want to mimic the success of the Zune?
Aaah, so they just want to sell 1 phone? and to the village idiot?
LOL!
jarod
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Joined: Apr 2005
@gambit23
08/30, 04:49pm reply
lol... beautifully put!
Let's just hope it works out that way. With MS bleeding money on the Zune and XBox fronts, another hemorrhaging BU might just do the trick :) (not likely, though)
lockhartt
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Joined: Apr 2000
rim job
08/30, 05:16pm reply
no thanks, I don't want a rim job from microsoft.
climacs
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Joined: Sep 2001