Comments on: Should Microsoft buy Research In Motion?

A Reuters analysis makes the case that a deal could make sense, thanks to the drop in RIM's shares. CNET News' Ina Fried doesn't buy it.

[joetesta70]

Would be nice but not worth the price. Microsoft is loathe to enter the hardware business except for consoles, and Blackberries are Java-based...

[yobosensei]

Microsoft has Windows Mobile. Even though it's suck but not good enough reason for them to buy RIM.

[shikarishambu]

I bet for $30B MSFT can rewrite WinMo a few times + give every WinMo phone buyer a cash gift.

[jandler]

It doesn't matter. RIM is simply not for sale. No matter the offer.

[delf76]

I smell antitrust issues with that acquisition. But, it's an interesting take. I never thought about Microsoft aquiring RIM.

[Ebeale]

I say lets buy the Canadians.

[gdmaclew]

No!
Paws off one of the greatest innovators in the world.
Those people in Waterloo Ontario are geniuses.
They don't need your help.

[Fitzort]

Yeah like that will ever happen. You Americans will be bankrupt if your government keeps it up.

[setgo]

I had a Q with Windows Mobile. It sucked! Now I have a Blackberry. It's a lot better and I pray MS doesn't buy it and screw it up.

[drewbyh]

No

[BogusBasin]

One sinking ship buys another. Yawn.

[gdmaclew]

A sinking ship?
Care to bakc that up with real hard facts?
I guess not.

[BogusBasin]

I don't need to back up an opinion with facts. Sorry, I didn't know I was testifying in front of a grand jury. Easy there big fella.

[mlambert890]

You should wish that whatever ship you're on is sinking as fast as MSFT and RIM. LOL. Companies that will still be sitting on billions long after we're all dead.

Nice fantasy

[Solaris_User]

I don't like that.. in the economic downturn the possibility of big mergers scares me. I like competition, I don't like large big lock in vendors.

[EricDane]

I personally do not like the idea of Micro$oft buying RIM. I'm happy to know that it isn't a real transaction. When I read this post I was about to see if I could return my Blackberry.

[Mr. Dee]

The big problem would be integration definitely, not to mention the cost. Microsoft has a clear advantage with Windows Mobile already, it integrates nicely with Windows and Exchange. Its just for them to develop on the product. Focus on areas that need to be beefed up, thats Online Search and Advertising, those areas are in desperate need of help. The algorithms suck and Google continues to beat the pants of them and Yahoo.

[george_nelson]

How about PALM which already supports Windows Mobile and is a lot cheaper compared to RIM ?

[Penguinisto]

Pfft! Between integration issues and the fact that RIM's only real competition in North America is the iPhone (which it still has beat by 1.5x the marketshare), why would RIM even entertain the idea?

Seriously... Unless MSFT orchestrates a hostile takeover (anyone else remember how well that idea went with the YHOO attempt?), RIM would most likely tell Ballmer to go take a flying leap, and there's nothing Ballmer could do about it (especially now when MSFT's stock growth is sucking mud and they're already committed to that $40bn buy-back program and a recent incur of $6bn in debt).

/P

[Vegaman_Dan]

I think the answer is fairly obvious. Business. RIM has a history and reputation for business users and has very good support for business integration.

Apple has none of that.

Enterprises are avoiding the iPhone due to the complete lack of security (all apps running as root, no device security, no protection, etc), as well as the security nightmare that is iTunes that comes as part of it. The problems that the unit has had with 'push' email, messages getting locked / stuck on the local phone that requires you to completely wipe and reload the entire phone losing all data on it as a result- well, there's been a lot of problems with integration that the RIM untis simply do not have.

The iPhone is a pretty nice device, but it's not for business. The Enterprise Business Market has spoken and they don't want it. It is doing quite well as a consumer device though and that is what Apple is targeting.

I think there is no need to buy RIM. I'm rather surprised that rumors like this even get any traction at all.

[Penguinisto]

Dan, you're not making sense here... the point was that RIM has zero compelling reasons to even bother with entertaining an offer from MSFT. At all. RIM's only competition in its market (North America) is the iPhone, which (as you've stated) is (for now) primarily a consumer-oriented device.

The rest is mere blathering on your part.

PS: You may not have been around for this, but in Blackberry's early days, the headaches were legion... they all had to go through teething troubles. Only diff is, while the iPhone is rising very well above theirs and RIM already has, Windows Mobile is still mired and sinking in theirs.

/P

[bburrow]

If only to ensure the slow but sure death of RIM..

[bmoody]

I love my BB, but If MS buys Rim and starts screwing them up with their ridiculous mobile OS, I will drop it like a hot potato, and I don't think I will be alone......

[viyer]

Interesting! RIM's strength is their S/W and their servers that provide near 100% reliability that your email reaches your device instantaneously.
While it would add significant on-demand capabilities to MS it would be a "huge" buy.

[mbenedict]

I have many many friends who work at RIM. Most of them would be devastated if RIM got bought out by anyone. Of course most of them have recently lost a huge amount of their stock value as well, and wouldn't mind seeing their shares pumped up.

Would RIM sell to Microsoft? Yes, they would. The majority holding institutional stockholders would dump RIM in an heartbeat if Microsoft offers a premium for their stock price, especially in this environment. They have no loyalties.

I'm guessing the board and the co-CEOs would also seriously entertain a Microsoft offer, because they are professionals unlike say a certain CEO we know at that other search engine company.

As a technologist, I see RIM's has a lot of problems, despite the fact that my RIM friends love the place to death. Not the least is RIM requires a huge amount of centralized infrastructure (for things like provisioning, push messaging, etc.) It's an antiquated architecture leftover from two-way paging days.

Someone mentioned RIM is Java based, and that's true not only on the phones but also in-house (their "backend" apps are mostly Java except for some performance items.)

But Microsoft buying RIM would NOT be for its technology as implemented today. What they would be buying is RIM's marketshare, plus some IP. Microsoft is known for buying companies with different technology sets anyway (even Hotmail way back then, which was a FreeBSD shop before acquisition.)

Obviously MSFT and RIM already collaborate very closely together (and getting closer every day with the latest OS update) so from a business perspective they already have great synergy. RIM and MS Exchange are like twins separated at birth.

[SixVodkas]

Heck yes!

There's simply no better way for Apple to succeed, than to have MS "Zune" Research in Motion.

Ballmer?

GO FOR IT.

[Foffaf]

Currently I'm using 2 PDA phones, one is Samsung Omnia based on WinMo 6.1 and the other one is Blackberry 8830. I'll say no to Microsoft buying RIM, unless Microsoft could make a better, smaller, and faster mobile OS with minimum hardware reqs. Once RIM is merged to MS the great email efficiency that belong to Blackberry will be gone. :(