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RIM Apparently Not Interested In Switching To Windows Phone
- BruceIV 14y agoA pity RIM rejected this - still, once their stock tanks further, Microsoft may just buy them out. Combined with a Nokia acquisition, they might be able to put together a strong mobile presence in both the consumer and enterprise sectors.
- Danieru 14y agoIf you have two lame horses and you glue them together do you get: 1. A race horse, or 2. Two sticky lame horses
- notaddicted 14y ago"Just because you tie two rocks together doesn't make them float" - Andy Grove
- BruceIV 14y agoI may be in danger of being labelled a Microsoft fanboy here, but I think Windows Phone is (or has potential to be) a good software platform, and Microsoft has got the money (and I think the will) to stick with it for a while - RIM would mostly be useful to them for their enterprise software stack, and as a hardware manufacturer.
- BruceIV 14y agoOn another note, there's a very real possibility the Canadian government would be nationalistic enough to refuse Microsoft permission to buy them out, even if they offered. http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/06/29/andrew-coyne-possible-sale-of-canadian-icon-rim-will-be-test-of-silly-foreign-ownership-laws/ http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/06/29/andrew-coyne-...
- RyanMcGreal 14y agoIt would make more sense for RIM to go the Android route. A free, mature operating system and development platform with strong market share that runs on a huge variety of devices would give RIM the chance to go for broke on the physical device and recapture some hardware market share.
- koenigdavidmj 14y agoThe hardware is one area where they might salvage things. An Android phone with a physical keyboard, sturdy enough to be dropped a few times? I might buy one of those.
- astrodust 14y agoBundle unlimited text messaging through BBN and you would sell a whole ton of these phones.
- ConstantineXVI 14y agoRIM would still have to do a lot of work to harden Android to their standards: security is a large selling point for the BlackBerry wrt enterprise/gov't. Switch to bare Android, they lose their security edge and the enterprise happily continues to dump them. Harden Android, they'll be even later to market, likely break compatibility, and their customers will be gone by the time they're out.
- redthrowaway 14y agoForgive the ignorance, but what really needs to be hardened? RIM'd be rolling their own Enterprise mail apps, etc, and Android's built on a pretty secure Linux foundation. Maybe add full disk encryption (eww w/ flash mem)? Restrict app purchases to those approved by RIM? In what ways is BBOS more secure than Android?
- ConstantineXVI 14y agoThe most obvious bit is RIM hasn't ever allowed self-signed code on the BlackBerry. It's not obvious from the user end (as they support sideloading just like Android), but you have to request a cert from them and dial home every time you sign (even for dev builds). Also, when you say "secure Linux foundation", realize that the vast majority of Android phones get rooted[0], which would allow for circumventing their security and enterprise controls (ex: disabling the camera, kill switches, restricting apps, monitoring usage, etc.). Part of RIM's appeal has been their relative immunity to rooting; they'd have to be able to prove their variant of Android is notably more secure than AOSP (else there's no advantage) [0] by which I mean models that can be rooted, not individual phones that have been rooted
- azakai 14y ago> The idea: abandon the BlackBerry OS 10 fiasco and adopt the upcoming Windows Phone 8 software instead. That’s basically the route Nokia took, opting to abandon Symbian in favor of Windows to power high-end phones. And how is that working out for Nokia?
- metrop0219 14y agoDid you see the WP8 Announcement? Lets reevaluate that one in a year
- desigooner 14y agoanecdotal-y: I've seen more Nokia smartphones in the northeast (Boston-NYC-Washington DC corridor which I travel through pretty often) post-windows switch than before. Maybe it's the marketing push from AT&T that has helped them sell more smartphone units now vs. in the past
- astrodust 14y agoThe Nokia phones are more visible now, the industrial design is quite striking, but they are selling in far smaller numbers than ever.
- rz2k 14y agoHold on, let me look up the sales numbers using my Palm Treo.
- Thimble 14y agoBadly needed cash? RIM has 2 billion.
- johansch 14y agoAnd with 10k employees a burn-rate at something like $150M/month.