Does RIM Want Palm?
theglobeandmail.com
Does RIM Want Palm?
1–10 of 22 posts
Re: Does RIM Want Palm?
#2As Fake Steve Jobs quipped, this would be like the the number two and number three sprinters trying to beat number one by strapping their legs together and running three-legged.
Re: Does RIM Want Palm?
#3As Fake Steve Jobs quipped, this would be like the the number two and number three sprinters trying to beat number one by strapping their legs together and running three-legged.
Analogies are a dime a dozen. If the #3 sprinter has the running shoes and water bottle that #2 is lacking ...
Interesting bit (news to me) in the original piece:
the Canadian purchased a perfectly decent operating system for future devices in early April for an estimated $200-million, when it bought a small player named QNX Software.
Re: Does RIM Want Palm?
#4This seems to be the best buyer for Palm from my perspective. HTC and others are currently selling popular Android devices and there's little sense for HTC to sell Android, Windows Mobile, and an HTC owned webOS to consumers. RIM, on the other hand, could use Palm much like Apple used NeXT. webOS could become the foundation of the next generation of BlackBerry devices. It provides the same all-in-one experience that RIM does on a more modern platform. They would just need to integrate it with the tools that business people buy BlackBerries for. Combined with the BlackBerry name, it could go far.
Other manufacturers have already cast their lot with Android and it wouldn't make sense for them to offer both Android and webOS since they would have to keep pouring money into webOS development rather than getting mostly free Android development. And, to be frank, consumers have shown that they prefer Android. RIM is really the company whose weight could change that. A "BlackBerry" webOS running with one of RIM's keyboards and integrating with their Enterprise Server could do well in terms of market-share.
Re: Does RIM Want Palm?
#5As Fake Steve Jobs quipped, this would be like the the number two and number three sprinters trying to beat number one by strapping their legs together and running three-legged.
Analogies are a dime a dozen. If the #3 sprinter has the running shoes and water bottle that #2 is lacking ... Interesting bit (news to me) in the original piece: the Canadian purchased a perfectly decent operating system for future devices in early April for an estimated $200-million, when it bought a small player named QNX Software.
> Analogies are a dime a dozen
Oh yes, absolutely. A witty analogy is often just that, a quip. I do think that many mergers motivated by the desire to dethrone the leader do wind up with an entity that is weaker than its constituent parts. IIRC, FSJ was talking about MSFT and YHOO merging to take on GOOG.
In this case I think the analogy supports the article's conclusion, which is that RIM is in no hurry to buy Palm. If I can strain the metaphor, buying Palm would be like teaming up to run a race three-legged because you're thirsty and the other runner has a water bottle. Buying QNX was like buying a water bottle.
Re: Does RIM Want Palm?
#6As Fake Steve Jobs quipped, this would be like the the number two and number three sprinters trying to beat number one by strapping their legs together and running three-legged.
Analogies are a dime a dozen. If the #3 sprinter has the running shoes and water bottle that #2 is lacking ... Interesting bit (news to me) in the original piece: the Canadian purchased a perfectly decent operating system for future devices in early April for an estimated $200-million, when it bought a small player named QNX Software.
I wonder how hard it would be to port the WebOS userland to run on QNX. That could turn out to be a pretty awesome platform for RIM to build on.
Re: Does RIM Want Palm?
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
Analogies are a dime a dozen. If the #3 sprinter has the running shoes and water bottle that #2 is lacking ... Interesting bit (news to me) in the original piece: the Canadian purchased a perfectly decent operating system for future devices in early April for an estimated $200-million, when it bought a small player named QNX Software.
> Analogies are a dime a dozen Oh yes, absolutely. A witty analogy is often just that, a quip. I do think that many mergers motivated by the desire to dethrone the leader do wind up with an entity that is weaker than its constituent parts. IIRC, FSJ was talking about MSFT and YHOO merging to take on GOOG. In this case I think the analogy supports the article's conclusion, which is that RIM is in no hurry to buy Palm.…
Yeah, I knew it was a quip, and with this half-truth biz (cf. Karl Kraus), there's a lot to it.
Even with perfect fits, companies manage to screw up. They are hopping around one-legged, figure that a left leg would go nicely with their right one. Buy left leg, insist on it wearing right-handed shoes (lots in stock). Shoot left foot off to make it fit.
(snapping sound, strained analogy's back breaking ;-)
Re: Does RIM Want Palm?
#8Please, RIM is in severe need of a major OS update. Blackberry OS was kinda okay 7 years ago, but the devices I see now are more or less the same ones I was using in 2003.
Re: Does RIM Want Palm?
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Analogies are a dime a dozen Oh yes, absolutely. A witty analogy is often just that, a quip. I do think that many mergers motivated by the desire to dethrone the leader do wind up with an entity that is weaker than its constituent parts. IIRC, FSJ was talking about MSFT and YHOO merging to take on GOOG. In this case I think the analogy supports the article's conclusion, which is that RIM is in no hurry to buy Palm.…
Yeah, I knew it was a quip, and with this half-truth biz (cf. Karl Kraus), there's a lot to it. Even with perfect fits, companies manage to screw up. They are hopping around one-legged, figure that a left leg would go nicely with their right one. Buy left leg, insist on it wearing right-handed shoes (lots in stock). Shoot left foot off to make it fit. (snapping sound, strained analogy's back breaking ;-)
Hahaha!
Getting serious for a moment, I don't envy RIM if they buy Palm. Having bought QNX, a bunch of their engineers might have been disgruntled over the obvious message that their own stuff is junk and that the company doesn't trust them to fix it.
Some will have bought into QNX, some will be resisting it. Then they buy Palm and all the engineers who bought into QNX suddenly have the rug pulled out from under them.
While upper management are blinking in the flash bulbs, shaking hands at press conferences, and boasting about RIM's road map for taking over the world, middle management will be desperately trying to keep the talented people from quitting in disgust.
Re: Does RIM Want Palm?
#10As Fake Steve Jobs quipped, this would be like the the number two and number three sprinters trying to beat number one by strapping their legs together and running three-legged.
You could have said the exact same thing about Apple buying NeXT in 1996.