[tchocky77]

Facebook is not a tech company. Which management? The current?

I tend to agree that, strictly speaking, Facebook is not a tech company in the same sense that RIM is. But with 100 billion dollars to play with, they could very quickly become a serious player on any field they choose. Think about the runaway success Apple had to enjoy to get a hundred billion in the bank. Yeah. FaceBook is getting that from their IPO alone.

[southlander]

Facebook has little/no experience in a mobile environment, their track record on security is terrible, and it would alienate the largest stakeholders in RIMs enterprise (government/security conscious businesses and individuals).

Tying devices natively into Facebook servers/services would pose a massive security whole and could easily lead to leaked documents/information that should be (violations of opsec not withstanding)

I can not think of a more opposite company image than RIM vs. Facebook. Talk about scaring the enterprise off.

[emirozmen]

Hope it doesn't happen.

[OzarkaTexile]

Facebook is not a tech company. Which management? The current?

I'm not sure how you define "tech company". They don't make hardware or sell devices to end users. I think software still counts as "tech".

Actually, they do sort of make hardware, but it's not their core business.

Facebook Shakes Hardware World With Own Storage Gear | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com

[MrNerdNet]

I can see it now, The new bb10 device powered by facebook... haha well this is kind of a funny rumor if it was true im not sure what will happen but it would be interesting to see

[GeneralTech]

Zuckerberg is like the anti-christ to rim, his entire business platform on facebook is about violating privacy for ad-revenue, rim is about protecting privacy and has paid a heavy price for being in the business of not selling our business. Rim under zuckerberg is a dead company just like rim would be under google. Google's mantra is "do no evil" well zuckerberg is Satan himself. Cluckerberg has no crediblilty when it comes to privacy especially since he is currently supporting cispa, something that would make international clients S*** their pants if rim supported it. If cluckerberg attempted to take over rim, the boys of waterloo have to treat this like the battle of waterloo and send Napole-berg packing.

[W Hoa]

Facebook's $18.4-billion problem - The Globe and Mail


Mr. Stewart said Facebook will probably use a significant portion of its new cash to hunt down acquisition targets that meet at least one of three criteria.

The first is any firm working on the fusion of mobile and social technology. Despite a user base of more than 900 million monthly active users ... Facebook has had a lot of trouble making money off its mobile products. And since more and more users are accessing the social network from smartphones and tablets, generating profit from those users is perhaps the company's most pressing challenge.

The second is any company building advertising tools for the social Web.

The third criterion includes any (company) that has built a loyal following. Facebook's desire for such built-in user bases was evident last month, when the company bought social photography startup Instagram for $1-billion in cash and stock – in the process gaining access to some 30-million user accounts.

RIM and BBM covers nicely, with its 77+ million users, numbers one and three.

[Laridae]

Ugh, no.

I do not like Facebook and I do not like Zuckerberg.

End this now.

I don't like him, or trust him either.

But I hear when he buys RIM he's going to get Julian Assange of WikiLeaks to head it up.

[Motorhead777]

Facebook involvment would kill the company ....period!

[tchocky77]

Facebook involvment would kill the company ....period!

I don't think so. I mean I understand it's anathema to the crackberry diehards but it'll give the brand MASSIVE exposure that, let's be real, they're not going to get any other way.

If therabid BlackBerry purists get to keep everything they've loved about the platform up to this point, BlackBerry will not survive. They HAVE to open up the platform to the consumer market. It's been proven that there aren't enough Apengue's, Morlock-Men, or any of the others out there to keep RIM afloat.

[morlock_man]

I don't think so. I mean I understand it's anathema to the crackberry diehards but it'll give the brand MASSIVE exposure that, let's be real, they're not going to get any other way.

If the the rabid BlackBerry purists get to keep everything they've loved about the platform up to this point, BlackBerry will not survive. They HAVE to open up the platform to the consumer market. It's been proven that there aren't enough Apengue's, Morlock-Men, or any of the others out there to keep RIM afloat.

Hah. I've been pluralized!

Why would they have to open up a secure platform?

Facebook could invest without acquiring. They could get a seat on the board. They don't need and probably wouldn't win a takeover bid.

[tchocky77]

I'm not talking about a takeover. I think the shareholders would welcome the sale if it's brought to a vote.

[abwan11]

Exactly. By taking a stake in RIM Facebook will give RIM a market valuation at much higher then the current share price. It will quell the negativity that surrounds RIM at the moment and leave analyst and consumers anticipating what's next, bb10. Facebook could just by associations differentiate the platform from the others as a fully integrated social device. Facebook could aid in closing the app gap and drive developers to the platform. There would be 900 million potential eyes to push bb10 onto. Wall street would run the stock up probably past what anyone would have considered. The enterprise side of the business is another potentially huge untapped market for both companies. As far as death by association goes, I don't see it happening. Bono from U2 invested 90 million in Facebook in 2009 (now worth 1.5 billion) and I don't look at him any different then I did before he was involved. I don't see any negatives to this scenario. RIM would have the last laugh in mobile if this happened.

[addicted44]

Facebook is not a tech company. Which management? The current?

I think RIM's Current management is good personally, but unproven. I was talking about the mismanagement RIM suffered under the waning years of the co-CEOs.

And Facebook not a Tech company? How do you define a tech company? What makes RIM a tech company, and not Facebook?

[cgull]

FB buying RIM is an absurd notion. Just dont see the business case and actually see where it would be a mistake for FB to do this.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9850 using Tapatalk

[OMGitworks]

I think RIM's Current management is good personally, but unproven. I was talking about the mismanagement RIM suffered under the waning years of the co-CEOs.

And Facebook not a Tech company? How do you define a tech company? What makes RIM a tech company, and not Facebook?

Problem is the newish CEO is from the old regime and, rightly or wrongly, he's not really different enough either for the stock market or the tech critics. Many think he was part of the problem and not the solution.

[OzarkaTexile]

Problem is the newish CEO is from the old regime and, rightly or wrongly, he's not really different enough either for the stock market or the tech critics. Many think he was part of the problem and not the solution.

Give Thorsten a chance. There likely weren't any CEOs that would impact the stock price. When your industry is expanding and you're shrinking, the stock price is going down. They have the plan, it's all about execution now.

And RIM has been very bad at execution for the past few years.

[morlock_man]

If anyone watches Community, last night's episode 21 was full of Blackberry and Facebook product placement.

There was a scene with Troy watching a video on a Playbook, with a full on shot of the Playbook. There's a shot of with Brita texting on her Blackberry, with half the screen donated to the BB. Facebook itself also plays a roll as a plot element in conjunction with BB.

[kb5zht]

Facebook buying RIM would soooooo screw RIM's stock. I hope this doesnt happen, im already a few thousand in the red thanks to Lazardis and Balsillie's living past their usefullness and screwing the company.

[sleepngbear]

Facebook buying RIM would soooooo screw RIM's stock. I hope this doesnt happen, im already a few thousand in the red thanks to Lazardis and Balsillie's living past their usefullness and screwing the company.

Actually it would probably give RIM stock a good little pop. FB on the other hand would take a serious screwing ... which it may do this week anyway all by itself.

[abwan11]

What if Facebook took a stake in rim in order to use rims bbm framework and rims servers to develop a seperate multiplatform app for android, ios, bb10 and pcs where it had all the functionality bbm has but only was accessible to Facebook subscribers through Facebook. It would open up a new bbm style messenger to multiple platforms without sacrificing rims own bbm. This would give Facebook and rim a cross platform instant messenger for 900 million potential customers to tap into. If Facebook could monetize the new messenger either through monthly subscription or ads rim would get its service provider fee. I can't see how the markets would see this as a negative for either company.

[Zepa]

I think it would help

[Superfly_FR]

Facebook : “Our mobile strategy is simple: We think every mobile device is better if it is deeply social. We’re working across the entire mobile industry; with operators, hardware manufacturers, OS providers, and application developers to bring powerful social experiences to more people around the world.”

Question may be then : what phone will match BB10 deep social integration in the near future ?
BBuffy ? ;-)

[katiepea]

Its likely a sale like that would be blocked, if not by the major stock holders, by the Canadian government.

the canadian government has already said they have no desire to block a sale of RIM to anyone

[Chrisy]

Is Facebook supposed to last much longer? I mean, it's the rage right now but so was myspace.

I think it would be lame to have FB and RIM together.