Microsoft Rumored to be Considering BlackBerry Purchase
Microsoft is supposedly still eying BlackBerry for its presence in the enterprise market.
Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia's devices business seemingly came out of nowhere given all the recent turmoil surrounding the Redmond company. It's somewhat aligned with another shocker announced by CEO Steve Ballmer who recently said he will be "retiring" early within the next twelve months. The industry was also rather shocked at the $900 million hit the company took in its Q4 2013 earnings for unsold Surface RT tablets.
Now here's another shocker: Microsoft may still be eying a BlackBerry Limited acquisition. Given recent events surrounding the Redmond company, anything is possible at this point. Sources told Bloomberg that Microsoft is keeping an eye on the Canadian device manufacturer due to its strong presence in the enterprise market. Still, the acquisition of another OS would be rather strange given Microsoft's current push to make Windows Phone more enterprise-friendly. It would also seemingly throw a wrench into Microsoft's scheme to offer a unified platform experience.
But, again, anything is possible at this point.
Sources told Bloomberg that the Microsoft-Nokia deal is more of a sprint than a marathon, that talks between the two began back in February. Both parties reportedly agreed that the current two-year-old smartphone collaboration just wasn't working as expected. The two finally settled on a deal in July, with Microsoft shelling out 5.44 billion euro ($7.2 billion) for Nokia's Devices & Services business, to license Nokia's patents, and use Nokia's mapping services.
"Microsoft realized that it wouldn’t be possible to succeed without controlling the entire value chain," said Francisco Jeronimo, research director for European mobile devices at research firm IDC in London. “Nokia has realized that it needed a stronger ally with the financial muscle to continue driving its Lumia smartphones."
Microsoft has reportedly been interested in BlackBerry for some time, yet Ballmer supposedly decided not to make a bid for the Canadian company back in 2011 due to the transaction not being a "worthy investment". Now with Nokia's device business under Redmond's control, BlackBerry has one less possible lifeline. Even more, Microsoft is now better positioned to compete with BlackBerry as the #3 smartphone platform.
Despite launching a new operating system and several new phones, the once dominant BlackBerry said last month that it had established a committee to review its strategic options, including a possible sale. That's a dramatic change given BlackBerry, formerly RIM, controlled 51 percent of the smartphone market in North America just four years ago. Now the company controls a mere 3.4 percent thanks to the slow response to Apple's iPhone and the army of Android-based devices.
BlackBerry said the new Special Committee will explore alternatives to enhance value and increase scale in order to accelerate BlackBerry 10 deployment. These alternatives could include, among others, possible joint ventures, strategic partnerships or alliances, a sale of the Company or other possible transactions.
BB is a dead business, just like Palm was when HP bought them. A waste of money.
The patents alone are worth billions because unlike Android, BB OS is a secure operating system.
In 2007 those patents may have been worth billions, but today? There are better ways to do everything those patents describe. Name just one that Google, Apple, Samsung, ect. even want.
Microsoft would only potentially want BlackBerry for their name recognition. I'm assuming they can get it rather cheap.
I know lots of corporate types who are still on Blackberry and refuse to give it up.
Imagine a Blackberry phone with Nokia quality and Microsoft platform integration.
However, I can't think of any other options they would have.
(My boss waited over a year for the new Blackberry to come out when I went with a Lumia 900 and my other buddy switch to Samsung - also my girlfriend's father is totally sold on both the Blackberry phone AND quite likes the Playbook - Blackberry still does have some die-hards)
Something that most people do not realize about BB 4/5/6/7 OS versions is that the work flow for accomplishing routine tasks is amazing, fast, and can be accomplished with just one's thumb on all the QWERTY phones. Taking a picture and sending it via any of the communication options is a great example of this.
1. Press camera button.
2. Aim and press camera button again to take picture.
3. Press menu button.
4. Trackpad through menu to Send > Email/BBM/SMS/etc.
5. Trackpad choose/type recipient.
Done
When I tried a Windows Phone accomplishing the same thing was so convoluted and frustrating, there was no way in hell I was going to use it instead of a Blackberry. Another great thing about my BB9900 is how simple it is toggle connectivity modes. One tap/click on the main screen and I can change the Cell, Wifi, Mobile Hotspot, Bluetooth, and NFC with a single tap/click. Multiply that sentiment by all of the work flow areas where RIM nailed convenient usability and it's very easy to see value in the platform.
People who stick with their Blackberries do so because they are efficient, extremely stable/reliable, and have many capabilities. My Blackberry always "just works", no muss, no fuss, no frustrations.
That said, I'm not really keen on the work flow and all touch UI paradigm of the BB10 OS. Forsaking the innovation of the optical trackpad was a huge step backward and the insistence on integrating social media with email, sms, and bbm is asinine for those of us who do not use social media and enjoy keeping our communication platforms separate.
All that said, RIM ("Blackberry"...) would be a good match for Microsoft or Sony, because it would give their product lines an instant in road to enterprise mobile computing, the market of folks who simply like the BB best, and the ownership of the QNIX operating system, which in itself is a healthy business.
M$ is not getting the patents. Nokia is retaining the ownership.
They are licensing the patents.