This headline seems as unlikely to me today as "Microsoft to Buy Research in Motion” (aka RIM, creators of the BlackBerry.) Photo by BlackBerryCool
This morning I was contacted by a technology reporter and asked to comment on the rumor. I have speculated with peers for years as to which company would ultimately buy RIM and when. There was a time about 3 years ago, that a take over of RIM by the software giant would have made obvious sense.
In late 2007, Microsoft Mobile 6 was clearly failing to gain meaningful mobile market share. Meanwhile, RIM was trying to get their legs back under them after the 15th round knockdown by NTP in the multi-year lawsuit. For the better part of the year (a technology eternity,) RIM’s best and brightest engineers worked on contingency plans to circumvent certain message transport methods to hopefully stay off the NTP injunction. RIM spent little time during that dispute staying ahead of the competition.
During this time, Microsoft made giant strides with the Active Sync technology which is now utilized by Apple iPhone and other Smartphone manufacturers. In my opinion, that was the key time for Microsoft, or Google for that matter, to buy RIM. With the lawsuit settled and the BlackBerry Smartphone OS aching for an overhaul, Microsoft would have instantly taken the leadership position in the mobile race rather than continuing to flail about in the surf.
Google on the other hand would have then greatly benefited from acquiring RIM at that time as well. Google would have instantly established an enterprise customer base to sell through all of the cloud based apps to displace Microsoft more rapidly than they recently have. Couple that with reason with the flop of the Nexus One, Google was ripe at that point to buy RIM. Google quickly realized they “stepped in it” BIG TIME attempting to enter the hardware business. Once they abandoned and realigned their strategy, Google Android promptly marched to the top of the US Smartphone market. So, why would they buy RIM now?
Although this is bad news for RIM, they remain an attractive acquisition target still for the following reasons:
1. Recurring revenue. RIM continues to print money with their take of the monthly carrier bill and the annual enterprise T-Support contracts.
2. Enterprise Customer Base. RIM has an impressive government and corporate customer base for selling through other hardware, software and services.
3. RIM is abandoning their legacy proprietary OS overhauling in favor of their QNX (UNIX based) OS.
4. The new PlayBook will run Android apps on top of a virtual
Obstacles to a sale:
1. RIM top brass don't want to sell. Both Jim Ballsillie and Mike Lazaridis are RIM lifers. Perhaps if Jim Ballisille can finally win his bid to bring a NHL hockey franchise to Waterloo...that may be a big enough distraction for him. However, Lazaridis is a self admitted geek and LOVES what he does. I would not be the least bit surprised to see the Co-Captains go down with the BlackBerry ship Novell style. REGARDless…RIM will still be a major factor for 5 to 10 more years.
2. Supporting RIM’s plethora of legacy devices, OS versions and BlackBerry Enterprise Server versions has got to me a formidable undertaking for any outsider coming in.
3. The number one obstacle however will be blending the culture of most any organization with RIM. Having worked in or consulted for thousands of companies of all sizes over the past two decades, I have rarely come across any organization with the ability to say “my way or the highway” to customers and partners and get “their way” almost without exception.
RIM and Microsoft would clash culturally worse than Sean Penn marrying Dr. Laura Schlessinger. From my earliest dealings with RIM back in 1998, they came out of the gate with ATTITUDE and EGO which has served them VERY well up and to now!
