Is Blackberry synonymous with RIM (Research In Motion)?
Yes, Research in Motion (RIM) re-branded themselves BlackBerry back in January: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/01/30/rim-renamed-blackber....
BlackBerry puts itself up for sale
71–80 of 115 posts
Re: BlackBerry puts itself up for sale
#72Is Blackberry synonymous with RIM (Research In Motion)?
RIM changed their name to Blackberry last year.
Re: BlackBerry puts itself up for sale
#73Does anyone else suspect that Blackberry/RIM's troubles might be something along the lines of what has happened to LavaBit? Wasn't their device/architecture similar to LavaBit's at least in that comm's were sent encrypted to a server either controlled by RIM, or by a third party (individual companies, gov't agencies, etc.) Then, some time in the not-too-distant past, various world governments started making a big con…
No, as a moment's thoughtful speculation would make clear. The public information we have about Blackberry neé RIM is entirely sufficient to explain why they're floundering.
Re: BlackBerry puts itself up for sale
#74Does anyone else suspect that Blackberry/RIM's troubles might be something along the lines of what has happened to LavaBit? Wasn't their device/architecture similar to LavaBit's at least in that comm's were sent encrypted to a server either controlled by RIM, or by a third party (individual companies, gov't agencies, etc.) Then, some time in the not-too-distant past, various world governments started making a big con…
When governments came knocking, RIM didn't even put up a fight; before Snowden, they were largely considered the last vendor you'd ever choose, if you cared about your privacy from governments. They had the same excruciating soul-search for a new OS as Nokia, once Apple and Google leapfrogged their early-2000s shitty UIs, and then settled for a good platform when it was way too late. So I'd take the tinfoil off...
Re: BlackBerry puts itself up for sale
#75Amazon and Blackberry are the ideal fit. Amazon needs to gain independence from Android, they have the marketplace and the muscle to take advantage of all things Blackberry has in it's favour. Remember they have already been in discussions in the past: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2077067/Amazo... Neither MSFT nor Samsung really make sense as purchasers IMHO.
The hardware business is dead and dusted. Amazon needs a platform to sell you things, not a difficult hardware business. Blackberry's only useful assets are their enterprise software and sales teams; everything else is noise.
Re: BlackBerry puts itself up for sale
#76This sucks for Canada. Less than five years ago RIM/BlackBerry's share prices were trading at ~$150, now it's $10! I can see this depressing Canadian start-ups and its tech industry. Like Kodak, the main reasons for BB's downfall was their own human mistakes - complacency, hubris, and arrogance.
Re: BlackBerry puts itself up for sale
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
From an acquisition perspective, the "price" is Market Cap + Debt - Cash. The total cost comes to just over $2B. At that price, I see it as a no brainer for Microsoft. They just need to ship a windows phone that is compatible with all the BB enterprise stuff, and IT departments will force it on the employees.
That's not true. The market cap which is the value of all outstanding shares. Debt and cash are factored into the market cap.
Take a look at the concept of EV (Enterprise Value). http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/enterprisevalue.asp
It explains my perspective.
As a thought exercise, what is the relevant "price" to acquire a company when the share price has fallen to zero (just before bankruptcy)? Free is the wrong answer.
How much does it cost to acquire a lemonade stand with $1B in the bank, and a market cap of 1.000001B?
Enterprise value will give an accurate "price" in both of these examples.
Re: BlackBerry puts itself up for sale
#78Microsoft should buy them.
I think Huawei would bid.
Re: BlackBerry puts itself up for sale
#79As an Android developer by day, and a BlackBerry developer by night, it boggles my mind why everyone thinks BB10 is crap, and that no one wants it. Spend 1 week with a BlackBerry Z10 or Q10, and you'll see how great it actually is in comparison to other platforms. Spend some time developing an app for it in Qt and Cascades, and you'll see how great it is to develop for, in comparison to other platforms. People also n…
I haven't used BB10 yet, but I am willing to believe you. However, I think the issue is that success on the mobile OS market is determined in a large part by the ecosystem around it. The ecosystem is heavily influenced by network effects (i.e. the more users, the higher the value of the network) en BB is way behind in this aspect. They still have many users but the amount of apps pale in comparison to Apple and Android.
If Apple, Android, Windows and BlackBerry would all have started at the same time, we would have seen different results (maybe). But the simple fact remains that BB is very, very late to the game. And once market dominance is reached, as Apple and Android have, competitors can only change that dominance by being dramatically better. And I get the impression that BB10 is somewhat better.
And that is not enough.
Re: BlackBerry puts itself up for sale
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's about to change with the release of 10.2 this September. It supports Android 4.2.2 APIs, and runs them pretty well.
Do they support an Android app store? Do they need to be sideloaded?
Android apps need to be packaged into a .BAR file (simple tool) and signed with a BlackBerry signing key so it can be submitted to BlackBerry World. There is no Google Play, or Amazon App Store, or any other Android-specific app store.
If you don't want to submit to BlackBerry World, you would need to sideload the app. You still need to sign it with a BlackBerry key.