[saintforlife]

Everyone knows the story of Microsoft coming to Apple's rescue in the late 90s. Desperate times call for desperate measures and this is one of those times for BBRY.

BlackBerry should go to Google and ask them to take a stake in the company, become a close partner, pay them a licensing fee, give them a blank check or whatever it takes to get them on board. The BB10 platform needs a fresh injection of life and what better way to do it than bring all the Google apps to BB - GMail, Youtube, Google Now, Google Maps, Google+, Google Drive etc.

I think this will be a great first step to stop the bleeding. Once you have Google on-board with its apps, I think other major apps will follow.

Of course, this is assuming BB will continue to work on offering even better devices at various price points, improving their shoddy marketing etc.

Thoughts?

[stevepar]

Don't Google own Android and Motorola!

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[monil11]

Don't Google own Android and Motorola!

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Well Microsoft had Windows back when it saved Apple and they still did it. So it has been done before and isn't completely impossible

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[CHIP72]

Google does not currently own a monopoly in the smartphone market. Additionally, what does Google have to gain in the long-term by investing in Blackberry?

Blackberry should go to Apple or Microsoft for assistance if they are going to ask for assistance.

[Thunderbuck]

You don't know that this hasn't happened already. I'm harboring at least a faint hope that with the adoption of the a new Android Runtime that there's an outside chance Google might just support the platform. I'll be clear: I'm not counting on this, but I see it as at least an outside possibility.

And worth remembering, Microsoft's investment in Apple was more for the sake of optics than anything else. It was only $150 million; kind of a drop in the bucket. It was big PR win-win for both parties, though...

[saintforlife]

Don't Google own Android and Motorola!

Posted via CB10

So what. The more people use Google's services, the better it is for them. That's their business model.

Google may have a strategic reason to not have their apps on the Windows Phone platform. They compete with MS kind of in the same markets - Search (Google vs Bing), Cloud (Google App Engine vs Azure), Email (Gmail vs Hotmail/Outlook), Browsers (Chrome vs IE) etc.
But with BlackBerry there is no such conflict of interest or danger of losing business.

Just think of all the positive press that BlackBerry could get by getting Google on-board. That should count for a few million BB10 devices right there. Long term, the potential will be even better.

[LazyEvul]

You know what? It's actually an interesting idea. BlackBerry should at the very least give it a shot, if they haven't already - the Google suite of apps would be a helpful boost to the company, and chances are it'd cost a relatively tiny amount of money to Google. Having said that, I don't think they'd "save" the day, but they'd certainly help.

[saintforlife]

Google does not currently own a monopoly in the smartphone market. Additionally, what does Google have to gain in the long-term by investing in Blackberry?

Blackberry should go to Apple or Microsoft for assistance if they are going to ask for assistance.

Google offers services that Apple or Microsoft don't. More people using Google's services means, better it is for Google. That is what they have to gain by investing in BB.

What does Apple get by investing in BB? Nothing. Why would MS invest in BB, when they are trying so hard to secure the No.3 spot in the smartphone arena?

[CHIP72]

Google's long-term goal IMO is to build Chrome OS, or more broadly-stated, have computer users to store everything or almost everything in the cloud. They will have more control over and will be able to more easily manage the operating system that way, while also optimizing the user experience. Because they will focus on a browser/cloud-based OS, device security will not be as critical as it for device-based operating systems.

The above is not in sync with what Blackberry has to offer. Blackberry's strengths in terms of mobile security fit better with companies that are focused in the longer-term on device-based OS, like Microsoft and especially Apple.

[sigint99]

Hell no. BlackBerry should stay right away from treacherous Google and its data mining activities. Asking Google to help you is like asking a robber to do you over.

[Wiki Cydia]

Everyone knows the story of Microsoft coming to Apple's rescue in the late 90s. Desperate times call for desperate measures and this is one of those times for BBRY.

BlackBerry should go to Google and ask them to take a stake in the company, become a close partner, pay them a licensing fee, give them a blank check or whatever it takes to get them on board. The BB10 platform needs a fresh injection of life and what better way to do it than bring all the Google apps to BB - GMail, Youtube, Google Now, Google Maps, Google+, Google Drive etc.

I think this will be a great first step to stop the bleeding. Once you have Google on-board with its apps, I think other major apps will follow.

Of course, this is assuming BB will continue to work on offering even better devices at various price points, improving their shoddy marketing etc.

Thoughts?

Apple was out of cash when Steve Jobs returned, and Microsoft gave $150 million to Apple's new management so they could deliver their Hail Mary product, a product which ultimately saved the company and protected MS from further antitrust litigation.

BBRY, on the other hand, has $3 billion in cash, but has already delivered its Hail Mary product, and it's not clear even $1.5 billion would make a difference at this point. After all, the $1.5 billion would go to a leader who (like it or not) was part of the team that rode the company into the ground. Add to this the fact that Google isn't under the same antitrust scrutiny as MS was and you should realize that this proposition just doesn't make any sense.

[birdman_38]

They should first seek at a partnership that would see all Google natively develop their entire suite of apps for BB10. Then talk about a cash infusion.

[CHIP72]

They should first seek at a partnership that would see all Google natively develop their entire suite of apps for BB10. Then talk about a cash infusion.

I think from Google's point of view you have it backwards in terms of providing apps - Blackberry would need to develop its own fork off of Android, ala Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

[ranzabar]

Mkay. And Google says "BlackBerry shall now be spyware like Android "

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[TGR1]

The $150M from MS was nothing. It was the promise to keep developing MS Office for the Mac that was the true savior. Without that, Apple was toast. And MS needed a viable Apple as well to keep the DOJ off their backs.

I do not see any two tech companies needing each other in a similar fashion today.

[birdman_38]

The $150M from MS was nothing. It was the promise to keep developing MS Office for the Mac that was the true savior. Without that, Apple was toast. And MS needed a viable Apple as well to keep the DOJ off their backs.

I do not see any two tech companies needing each other in a similar fashion today.

That's correct. BlackBerry needs Google more than Google needs BlackBerry.

[danprown]

Thorsten Heins to Google board: the return on your investment will exceed expectations!

[Troy Tiscareno]

If Google does nothing, then BB fails, and statistically Google wins anyway because 80% of the former BB customers will end up on Android (per global stats). And BB is already helping that along by making the single most important BB6/7 feature available on Android: BBM. Once BBM for Android is released, all of those holdouts on BB7 phones will finally drop BB completely, and they won't be going to $350 Q5s, but to <$100 Android phones that have a full ecosystem of apps available.

Google has zero reason to prevent that from happening.

[thawkth]

Everyone knows the story of Microsoft coming to Apple's rescue in the late 90s. Desperate times call for desperate measures and this is one of those times for BBRY.

BlackBerry should go to Google and ask them to take a stake in the company, become a close partner, pay them a licensing fee, give them a blank check or whatever it takes to get them on board. The BB10 platform needs a fresh injection of life and what better way to do it than bring all the Google apps to BB - GMail, Youtube, Google Now, Google Maps, Google+, Google Drive etc.

I think this will be a great first step to stop the bleeding. Once you have Google on-board with its apps, I think other major apps will follow.

Of course, this is assuming BB will continue to work on offering even better devices at various price points, improving their shoddy marketing etc.

Thoughts?

I've been thinking about this since yesterday. Google cares somewhat about Android, but really truly care about people using Google services and gathering data from it. I can see this working out for everyone.

1. Enable Google Play on BB10 devices. Huge app selection.
2. Enable Google Play Services to run sandboxed (ensuring security and locked down) - Balky carriers and slow OEMs step aside: Google is defragging Android | Ars Technica - provides access to all Google services.
3. Cross license patents with Google for mutual protection
4. Expand BES10 management to include Android devices more deeply.


Etc etc. Just a few wild ideas. Android could use some corporate lockdown abilities (Play Services is an interesting avenue to enabling that) and many companies might be more comfortable allowing Android into their systems if it's limited and sandboxed. Google has cash to spend and would HEAVILY benefit from NOT letting Microsoft own Blackberry.

[birdman_38]

Android could use some corporate lockdown abilities (Play Services is an interesting avenue to enabling that) and many companies might be more comfortable allowing Android into their systems if it's limited and sandboxed. Google has cash to spend and would HEAVILY benefit from NOT letting Microsoft own Blackberry.

But with a 79% worldwide market share and growing, would they even care?

[thawkth]

But with a 79% worldwide market share and growing, would they even care?

Honestly? I think they'd care more about keeping Blackberry and their patents/tech from Microsoft than actually lifting Blackberry up in any way.

Which is very, very sad of course.

Apple is a somewhat known quantity and Microsoft seems to be the biggest threat to Android at the moment. I would not let Blackberry slip away into their war chest

[ricocan]

In my way of thinking the best suitor or partnership would be with whomever has a vision and a taste to displace the traditional PC. In the office space, most users don't need a PC, a portal (ala Citrix) will do. Think about what business would like to be able to reduce costs on, hardware is certainly one area, so the vision is to replace desktop/laptops with a mobile computer, still need the monitor, keyboard and mouse since working on the large screen is preferable. In the home, it's the same deal and most would move their data to the cloud.

So a Cloud service provider would potentially be interested, if the technology was advanced enough to get this onto peoples desks at work and at home. Does anyone know how close we might be to getting this type of configuration. A hardware manufacture might be interested in getting in on the ground floor of this change, one who's not been terribly successful or is not dependant upon PC sales (Dell maybe or Sony) but have a bunch of equipment and toys that they could connect via M2M to provide a more full user experience, then the is the M2M up and comers who might interested in QNX.

I think what is needed is anyone who has experience figuring out what the consumer wants and is able to market, since this is really where BBRY has missed the mark so consistently.

[CHIP72]

Apple is a somewhat known quantity and Microsoft seems to be the biggest threat to Android at the moment. I would not let Blackberry slip away into their war chest

The biggest threat to Android is Google's plans with Chrome OS IMO.

[sinsin07]

This thread is full of wet dreams.

Google's end game is not Android, its Chrome.

Microsoft, Google and Apple are checking their funds, contacting their patent lawyers and deciding on what Blackberry patents they want.

[Toodeurep]

The biggest threat to Android is Google's plans with Chrome OS IMO.

I was thinking it was Samsung.

My version of the big boys goes like this...
1: Apple
2:Samsung
3: Android