Tweet

RIM...What's In It for Microsoft?

Guest post by: Andy Marken

Article Overview: RIM continues a downward spiral. The company (and country) needs a savior that can act in the best interest of the employees, the technology, the shareholders. Microsoft is the most logical choice...here's why.

RIM...What's In It for Microsoft?

But What About Nokia?

Sometimes people expect you to hit nothing but home runs (like Apple) and surpass their wildest expectations (like Google).

Then there are times when folks don't expect a helluva lot from a company and yet they consistently manage to deliver under the wire.

That pretty much sums up RIM's (Research in Motion) track record the past few years:

- Consistently lower sales projections quarter after quarter with lower actual sales quarter after quarter

- Roll-out a tablet that has to shine above the iPad in at least one or two (if not a number of) key areas leaving people to wonder if anyone in Waterloo, Ontario had bothered to buy/reverse engineer an iPad

- Sneak the introduction of an AppleTV competitor even as Jobs said it was a hobby idea (he tends to do that when the product doesn't fly off the shelves) and there are a hundred or so similar products that have been finding anemic acceptance over the past two years

Based on stock market value RIM was the shining jewel in Canada's crown just a few years ago valued at $80 billion.

On a good day right now the company is worth maybe $14.5 billion...maybe.

Tough to believe that their Blackberry which was a sure sign you were a mobile executive is now found in the "others" bin at the store.

RIM Shots

Okay it's not quite that bad but it's time for:

- the shareholders/Canadian government carve the company up and sell the parts

- some company leader with foresight and a need to step up and buy the assets, IP (intellectual property) and customer base

Lots of companies would be interested in buying portions of RIM. They'd be easy to afford, easy to absorb.

Best Options

Selling the whole package thins out the prospects and the names that have been tossed around include HP (Hewlett Packard, Nokia, Cisco, Oracle, Microsoft).

HP is having enough trouble getting its WebOS spread across their systems and their tablet is still a work in progress. Last thing Leo probably wants is to buy another problem on top of the one he inherited.

Nokia isn't well enough to take on another load.

Cisco dumped its consumer products, shed people and is in the midst of reorganizing to leverage the business/technology they have.

Oracle could but why unless Larry did it for his buddy Steve. He's got bigger fish to fry messing over HP's Leo.

Oh sure Google could with a few days click revenues but they're already under governmental scrutiny and trying to get their Chrome net - oopps note - books considered favorably. In addition there's the challenge of getting cloud notebook, tablet, phone platforms working seamlessly.

The MS Fit

Ballmer and MS have the most to gain and so does the marketplace:

- the RIM user base parallel's MS strength - government, enterprise

- a seamless Win 8 PC, tablet, phone platform plus RIM's strong, proven, secure communications IP would appeal to users

- A strong third mobile platform (Win/RIM) would be a desirable platform for business app PC/smartphone/tablet developers. A singular platform you could sell solutions for with any of the mobile devices is a strong financial incentive.

- RIM's Cyclone TV would be thrown aside because the PlayStation provides most of the streaming video/audio, TV capabilities people want in a box so why add a third device to the shelf when you can add features/capabilities for an active/loyal customer base? Nope!

- RIM's IP would fit well into MS patent portfolio and add to the revenue stream with little/no work

What about the Nokia relationship MS has already sunk a few billion into?

Ballmer has four choices:

- Transfer the hardware portion - phones/tablets - to Nokia in return for a sizeable chunk of the stock and help it return to a respectable number four device position - behind Samsung, Apple, HTC.

- Buy Nokia as well and have two really big captive customers

- Focus on strengthening his cloud solutions and strengthening his cross-device platform and meet the needs of two hardware partners that individually have good - not great but good - sales and potential

- Walk away from his pump-priming investment

Ballmer should probably sit on the sideline for a few quarters as RIM's results continue their downward spiral making it less costly for him to look like the knight in shining armor to the shareholders and Canadian government. Then he can swoop in to save the day and save his stockholders a big chunk of change while giving them a strong foothold in the mobile device arena.

But by 2012 RIM will be either a part of MS or cut up and sold at auction If that happens, it won't be a pretty sight.

Related Articles
  Go for the best ecommerce Microsoft RMS cart provider
  Microsoft ads brag that Windows powers cheap PeeCees
  How to Avoid Robotic Voice Text to Speech Synthesis
  Lesson #3: Think Long-Term
  Conspiracy or coincidence?
  Microsoft's New OneNote and Lync Apps for iPad, iPhone
  Launching A Revolution: The Start of Microsoft
  Significance of EPM 2010, Microsoft Project Server
  Follow Rule of Connectivity Not Competition
  Windows Phone OS Brings New Hope Among App Developers
  Lesson #2: Develop an A-Team
  How to password protect Microsoft Office Excel 2003
  Lesson #1: Stick To Your Vision
  Hire SQL Server Developer to build powerful and reliable web applications
  Web hosting service: an important choice to be assessed
  Windows Tech Support
  Lesson #2: Be Ruthless
  Support for compatibility issues with Microsoft Office 2007
  Implementing and Administering Microsoft Project Server 2010
  Optimize your Site for MSN

Article Tags: canadian government, company leader, customer base, foresight, google, home runs, hp hewlett packard, ipad, key areas, mobile executive, motion track, pretty much sums, research in motion, reverse engineer, rim shots, shining jewel, stock market value, that pretty much sums, waterloo ontario, work in progress



Related Forum Posts
Re: Quote of the Day - "Just because something works doesn't mea - Good qoutes. Case study Microsoft Dos Microsoft Windows 1 very good Microsoft Window 3.0 Very good Microsoft Windows 95 Better Microsoft Windows 98 Better Microsoft Windows XP Better Microsoft Windows Vista Better Windows 7 Best More is still coming I used them all
CRM Options - Greetings When I was working within a virtual team we used FreeCRM, it was an easy to access repository for all the information on our clients and how the business was going that any of us could check at any time. One of Australia's leading Web Development companies uses Zimbra an Open Source email/calendar application which is a great alternative to Microsoft Exchange. However it does cost money for a commercial licence but could definitely work out cheaper than a Microsoft Exchange solution depending on your business.
Re: Free Word-Count Tool - Hi David, Thanks for the link. I will only use it anyway if I am not using Microsoft Word
Learning from other people's mistakes (Books) - Most business books are written by people who tell of success stories, and how they were achieved. I'm wondering if people learn more by reading about the stories of failure? Or about how people achieved success...and then frittered it away through bad business practice. I checked two books out of the library yesterday. Apple: The Inside Story of Intrigue, Egomania, and Business Blunders, by Jim Carlton (started as a startup in 1976, sales peaked in 1995, and even then they were a "troubled" company, and now they've only got a 3% market share. (And I must admit I used to love Macs, but don't anymore...) and Breaking Windows: How Bill Gates Fumbled the Future of Microsoft, by David Bank. "Breaking Windows" tells the story of the battle for the soul of Microsoft that raged inside the company from 1997 to 2000 and continues to reverbrate today." The book "breaks new ground in its analysis of Microsoft's past and future business strategies. As Microsoft faces the waning importance of Windows, rallies behind XML, and confronts the open-source insurgency, the past Bank reveals is vital to understanding the future of this company and the still unfinished digital revolution it helped unleash.
Re: Microsoft: Get Free Domain Name, Free Hosting For 12 Mths - It definitely sounds like a smart promotion by Microsoft! Bit I wonder how difficult it'd be (or if it's even possible) to transfer the domain name hosting?


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

You Have A Website What Now

Work at Home Moms and Their Bad Rap?

Multilevel Marketing: 4 Tips To MLM Success

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.