4 ms·
No, a great move would have been for Microsoft to purchase RIM/BlackBerry three or four years ago, and focus on the corporate sector. They could have had the be
by sjwright 13y ago
No, a great move would have been for Microsoft to purchase RIM/BlackBerry three or four years ago, and focus on the corporate sector. They could have had the best information security story in the industry. They could have had the ultimate Exchange email experience.
Together, these companies would have had a serious chance at being the indisputable third platform.
On their own, they came up with a dozen incompatible variants of Windows Mobile, and PlayBook. Now both companies and both platforms are teetering on the edge of oblivion.
- psbp 13y agoYes, a brilliant strategy to have an aging company buy a device maker that markets to an aging customer base.
- sjwright 13y agoAt least RIM had a smartphone customer base to buy.
- mbreese 13y agoNo, it would have been brilliant. Microsoft is horrible at personal interfaces and trying to deal with actual people. But they are wonderful at enterprise. If either Microsoft or RIM had been able to say "Fine, we'll let Apple and Google play with their fancy new devices - we'll make products that let people actually get work done" that would have been a brilliant strategy. They could have completely dominated corporate mobile for years to come and put off the entire BYOD movement for a few years. As it is, they each wanted to play the same game as Apple and Google, and that has failed dramatically for both. If they had decided to play a different game entirely, they would have been formidable.
- mynameisvlad 13y agoBYOD wouldn't have changed much. The entire reason this is happening is because people like consumer-centric products above enterprise-grade products. They work better for people vs working better for enterprises, which is what Microsoft+RIM would have focused on. It doesn't matter how many enterprise features a phone has, if people don't like using it, it won't be used.
- mbreese 13y agoI think it would have pushed BYOD back a couple of years. I think that iPhone started the trend when people started migrating away from Blackberries. If there was a serious contender from Microsoft/RIM for a corporate smartphone, then that would have held it back for a year or two. At least until the iPad rolled around. I think that regardless of what a combined Microsoft/RIM had come out with, that the iPad would have still driven BYOD to the point where it is today.
- derekp7 13y agoBack when Blackberry was king, quite a few people carried a phone that was provided / paid for by their company, and they didn't have a personal phone. This is because cell phones / plans were expensive (remember 45 cents per minute?). Then, once the family plans started to become popular (it took a while, as it had to wait for people with company-provided phones to switch jobs to a company that didn't provide phones), more companies started to switch to BYOD. And I don't know about anyone else, but once I was able to choose my own device, it WAS NOT going to be a limited functionality stripped down corporate phone.
- jussij 13y agoAnd better still the device you’re buying doesn't even run the Windows Phone OS.
- sudomal 13y agoI guess it would depend on who you are securing the information from, Skype being an obvious example of a formerly secure service that is now owned by Microsoft.
- gtirloni 13y agoBYOD. There is no corporate market for smartphones anymore. Most execs want iPhones or similar.