Is RIM done for?

[akatsuki]

I figure that MS will pick them up for a song and shore up WM7 with their still large market penetration. With RIM being the "business" side arm and Nokia being the consumer focused label, MS would be in pretty good shape to actually make something of it.

Of course, that would require some conviction and balls from Microsoft.

 

[Slopho]

^MS is dumb enough to do this too. Too much damn money and not enough common sense on what to do with it.

 

[imageWIS]



yeah i totally agree - blackberry s are going to be a relic from the past.
IT is now a consumer market, Blackberry for many years was succssful as it relied on businessmen/women and enterprises to use these as they created a sae managed environment, but now you have BYO (bring your own) devices flooding the market, previously the CEO only wanted to use a blackberry to use there corporate emails on, but now you have C-level exec bringing in androids/ios devices which they have gone out and bought for themselves and being managed by mobile device management systems (similar to bes server)
Blackberry devices unfortunately are not cool - what a fail that blackberry playbook was.

Don't even get me started on the playbook! You need to tether it to your phone to access email? WTF?!? My Compaq (you read right: I said Compaq) PC Companion which ran Windows CE needed a PC card to go online... and look at emails. And that was perfectly acceptable in the dial-up world of 1997. But in 2012, in the age of wifi, 4G and the cloud the need to physically connect one device to another to look at emails is un-*******-acceptable.

PC Companion:

 

[imageWIS]



^MS is dumb enough to do this too. Too much damn money and not enough common sense on what to do with it.

Yup. The moment Apple did this and Android followed suit, it was all over for BB:

 

[akatsuki]

What should they do with the cash? They are falling behind badly and really nowhere to go.

 

[Slopho]



What should they do with the cash? They are falling behind badly and really nowhere to go.

They should hold on to their cash and start poaching staff from AAPL.

 

[imageWIS]



They should hold on to their cash and start poaching staff from AAPL.

IDK if that's going to save them, considering it looks like they don't have an actual strategy.

 

[Slopho]



IDK if that's going to save them, considering it looks like they don't have an actual strategy.

Oh you're right, they don't have a strategy. Its strange, I posted a story maybe a year ago about a friend who sometimes goes to those CES shows. MS area always has a lot of people around it, and they'll be showing really cool stuff, but when you ask when it will be available for the public they say "This isn't for release, its just something our concept department thought up."

Also, AAPL R&D expendatures from 2000-2010 8.6 Billion
MSFT R&D expendature from 2010 alone...8.9 Billion.

 

[Lord-Barrington]



What should they do with the cash? They are falling behind badly and really nowhere to go.

If their company was worth anyone, they would buy back stock since their stock price is currently at the bottom of the barrel. However, I think they know they're headed for the skids so they will probably use their cash as a lifeline to keep them limping along until someone buys them for a fair price.

 

[akatsuki]



They should hold on to their cash and start poaching staff from AAPL.

I don't think it is staff talent that is an issue, it is completely a leadership failure. They have tons of great products and technologies buried under piles of crap.

 

[Slopho]



If their company was worth anyone, they would buy back stock since their stock price is currently at the bottom of the barrel. However, I think they know they're headed for the skids so they will probably use their cash as a lifeline to keep them limping along until someone buys them for a fair price.

Are you talking about RIMM or MSFT?

 

[JohnnyCrockett]

I've been using Blackberrys since the mid-2000s and I still love them.
Just upgraded to the new 9930 and it is, by far, the best device Blackberry has ever made. Unfortunately, I think it came too late. I am thrilled with the device but so many around me wonder what I am thinking having stayed with BB. There are also very few apps. Effectively, both consumers and app developers have abandoned the platform (truly a chicken & egg problem).

Everyone around me has iPhones and Droids. They are great as portable laptops (media, apps, browsing, games) but they are not good phones or email devices. Typing is too difficult, there are too many screens to flip through until you get to the phone. I don't know a single ex-BB user who now uses iPhones and Droids who won't readily admit that phone and typing are better on the Blackberry. They are simply compromising because they like the "toy" aspects of these other devices.

Hopefully someone will buy RIM and turn around the Company.

 

[dragon8]



My guess is someone will buy them out. I am sure they have some intellectual property that will have some value.

They have about $3-4 billion worthof IP value.

 

[dragon8]



They should hold on to their cash and start poaching staff from AAPL.

Tool ittel to late. Better to have Apple buy them outright.

 

[imageWIS]



They have about $3-4 billion worthof IP value.

If that much. They really haven't been innovating, so IDK how valid and up-to-date their IP is to be worth buying.