[Tha.Housewife]

read it on AppyGeek today...as much as i lovveee the idea of possible word play with " facebook playbook" lol, I think rim will survive ....but we'll find out in about a month ...hehe bring on the BB10 OS!!!

[Branta]

Sounds more like another attempt at short-sell manipulation of the stock market. Considering Facebook's appalling policies about security and data privacy, and recent attempts to extend that to Instagram, I suspect RIM would rather turn out the lights and go home.

[SuperionMaximus]

Sounds more like another attempt at short-sell manipulation of the stock market. Considering Facebook's appalling policies about security and data privacy, and recent attempts to extend that to Instagram, I suspect RIM would rather turn out the lights and go home.

Yeah, I have to agree, I just don't see any parallels there outside of BBM. Facebook buying RIM would be 100X worse then HP buying palm and Facebook would have to pony up 20X what HP paid for Palm at least to quire a whole bunch of stuff they don't need or have any experience at. I would suspect you're right that RIM would reject any offer of an outright purchase. I would bet they would be open to a partnership and facebook taking some small minority stake in RIM and BlackBerry being the exclusive maker of the "facebook phone(s)" which would be one off low end consumer focused phones because corporates really would have no interest in their employees carrying around such a phone. That's as far as I could ever imagine that going.

[Banco]

RIM's board would accept any big enough offer, their responsibility is to their shareholders not the business itself. I struggle to see what advantage there would be for Facebook, that's the problem with this one, the whole RIM business is not geared towards what Facebook is. What you often see with these things is people randomly looking at company X and seeing who can afford it. But that's only a tiny bit of the story, potential buyers have to justify things to their shareholders too, even minority ones.

[bay1902]

I seriously hope that this remains in the 'rumour' pile, and NEVER comes anywhere near fruition! I am one of those who whilst I have a FB account, cannot stand what they are, what they stand for, and like others have said am completely appalled by their privacy policies. FB has single handedly dumbed down the universe over the past few years - they have made something so mind-numbing that people will sit for hours playing stupid farm games, sharing with people when they take a crap, how and why. Yes as a 'social' app it allows some pluses, but the thought of RIM selling out to this type of company, and where it would take their products given the potential of BB10. Its been no secret that FB want 'in' on the mobile market. Brand wise they have more clout than RIM at present with their fiscal value, but like MS before them have grown simply by taking over every competitor & screwing with it.

Not for me, not in the slightest! Thor - make sure BB10 is what we think it will be, then RIM will have their place back!

/rant! phew!

[Tha.Housewife]

get the Rapid Charger Stand for your Playbook today for $10.99

BlackBerry Rapid Charger for the PlayBook $10.99 shipped from CowBoom.com

maybe rim could teach em a thing or two about security lol

[BB_Bmore]

This is true and that's why they are full steam ahead with BlackBerry10. Thorsten and the bunch believe that BlackBerry10 will bring them back to the promise land and this is better for the shareholders than an outright sale. That is if BlackBerry10 is a hit. From what I've seen it looks like it will have a good chance.

RIM's board would accept any big enough offer, their responsibility is to their shareholders not the business itself. I struggle to see what advantage there would be for Facebook, that's the problem with this one, the whole RIM business is not geared towards what Facebook is. What you often see with these things is people randomly looking at company X and seeing who can afford it. But that's only a tiny bit of the story, potential buyers have to justify things to their shareholders too, even minority ones.

[hreiner1]

A buy-out is only a matter of time, it will not be an US or a Canadian company
the company is too small to survive on its own
I can see that a Asian company buys the technology, than folds the company,
the only hindrance is that a lot of stock is owed Canadian funds, banks etc, and they are very patriotic
I could even see a yahoo phone, like Google Motorola,
Facebook would not know of what to do with RIM
MS burnt there fingers before with phones, so did HP, I could see Dell trying it
Or it could be a Comcast, they have a lot of cash
Maybe GE

[Thunderbuck]

A buy-out is only a matter of time, it will not be an US or a Canadian company
the company is too small to survive on its own
I can see that a Asian company buys the technology, than folds the company,
the only hindrance is that a lot of stock is owed Canadian funds, banks etc, and they are very patriotic
I could even see a yahoo phone, like Google Motorola,
Facebook would not know of what to do with RIM
MS burnt there fingers before with phones, so did HP, I could see Dell trying it
Or it could be a Comcast, they have a lot of cash
Maybe GE

Nobody wants to buy RIM outright. RIM does not want to be bought outright. Too many major shareholders who are very, very deep underwater right now.

It's not the board's decision to accept a deal or not. The best they can do is recommend whether shareholders accept or reject an offer.

This is a rumor. A very dull rumor, as it has surfaced repeatedly on no more evidence than the speculation that FB has enough cash to buy RIM. There are, in fact, many companies and even individuals who could buy RIM, if they really, really wanted to. The thing is, there are some problems that a potential owner would have to face, mostly surrounding NOC.

1) If, say, Microsoft wound up in control of NOC, how many customers would leave? Part of the reason that many companies trust RIM's network is that it isn't controlled by any other entity.

2) How would RIM's many government customers feel about ANY large corporation getting the keys to NOC? Would they worry about compromised security, perhaps?

I see the possibility that a major investor might take a large minority stake (20-30%). I don't see anyone buying the whole company.

[scalemaster34]

A buy-out is only a matter of time, it will not be an US or a Canadian company
the company is too small to survive on its own
I can see that a Asian company buys the technology, than folds the company,
the only hindrance is that a lot of stock is owed Canadian funds, banks etc, and they are very patriotic
I could even see a yahoo phone, like Google Motorola,
Facebook would not know of what to do with RIM
MS burnt there fingers before with phones, so did HP, I could see Dell trying it
Or it could be a Comcast, they have a lot of cash
Maybe GE

I read today that DISH owns a lot of mobile spectrum, but I think they are more interested in the service end of the business. but who knows

I don't really belive anyone wants RIM as a mobile device manufacture.

[hreiner1]

RIM has to separate the software business from the hard ware business, that's maybe the way to survive as a nich player for a while
Just funny that none of the large Japanese electronic companies are in the mobile phone business, hey SONY wake up .....................

[Tha.Housewife]

fyi. here's the official new phone the L series. this guy is very reputable for getting the hottest leaks..

[mandony]

IMO, as soon as BB10 is (and WILL BE) a success beyond belief, all such talk of take overs will be pointless.

In FACT: only a few months ago RIMM was down in the dumps. The stock hovered around USD$6 share price. With assured BB10 close to release, RIMM is now in the near range USD$13 share price.
The money analysts obviously feel RIMM is going in the RIGHT direction. Save your breath that RIMM will be bought out cheap. It is too good a company

[donmateo]

FB buy RIM?

[phonejunky]

hilarious picture

[kevinnugent]

RIM has to separate the software business from the hard ware business, that's maybe the way to survive as a nich player for a while
Just funny that none of the large Japanese electronic companies are in the mobile phone business, hey SONY wake up .....................

Sony already had their nuts handed to them on a platter with the Ericsson partnership. They burn enough cash now without adding to it.

[kevinnugent]

And actually Fujitsu used to make a decent phone. Sharp did too from memory. LG and Samsung do. Who's left?

[Skateman1972]

As every company has its peak, i dont think facebook will get the opportunity to buy rim. As rim stock is slowly going up, Apple stock is going down the drain in 2013. (fall has started a few months ago and the introduction of the iphone 5 and ipad mini did not make any possive changes in this)

So lets wait and see what 2013 and bb10 will do for rim. If rim wont make it, i have my two old Nokia 6310i ready for action.

Go RIM Go....

Blackberry .... Phones for smart people, not a smartphone for the ......

[owadkelly]

LOL this latest rumour is waaayyyy out there. The day this happens is the day I no longer have a BB since I don't have a FB account and don't trust them with my personal info.

[annon91221]

Blackberry-Facebook....wouldn't that be an oxymoron...lol...facebook people hardly care about privacy and security of their data. But it seems logical that facebook might use BB security as a selling point for their phones.

[scalemaster34]

As every company has its peak, i dont think facebook will get the opportunity to buy rim. As rim stock is slowly going up, Apple stock is going down the drain in 2013. (fall has started a few months ago and the introduction of the iphone 5 and ipad mini did not make any possive changes in this)

So lets wait and see what 2013 and bb10 will do for rim. If rim wont make it, i have my two old Nokia 6310i ready for action.

Go RIM Go....

Blackberry .... Phones for smart people, not a smartphone for the ......

Funny.... very funny.

[mapsonburt]

I never saw the point in Facebook buying RIM... they just aren't a good fit. Amazon on the other hand would be a good fit... they are trying to push stuff to their cloud, could use the NOC's to distribute their content and could use it as a can opener into the corporate market. I could also see IBM picking up a part of it... the MDM/Noc side of things although that's becoming less and less likely as time goes on.

[SparkyBC]

Facebook won't be around In the next 5 years.

[the resurrection 2]

Meh! Nah! Doh!

[HabsSuck]

Facebook has about $10B in cash and investments, a deal would have to be a cash and stock purchase FB doesn't have enough cash to buy RIM unless BB10 failed and RIM's shared fell to $5