[BB_Bmore]

Apple is too busy readying the release of its latest and greatest smartphone to date....the Iphone5's will be a iphone 5 , only it will have NFC a few other things that the 5 should have had.

[gng11]

Waterloo is too tied to Ottawa in political terms. Jim and Mike would prolly be springing into action.

[belfastdispatcher]

Just because they have the money doesn't mean they can buy it, it's not as simple as that.

[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

Apple is too busy readying the release of its latest and greatest smartphone to date....the Iphone5's will be a iphone 5 , only it will have NFC a few other things that the 5 should have had.

These update cycles are getting ridiculous. How old is the iphone 5? Four months old?? Now a new one is coming out. I'm not even caught up in it and it bugs me. Not because its an iphone but because of how often

[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

From now on when I see someone with an iphone 5 I am going to ask if they are saving up to get the new one that's coming out. That will really make them feel like crap

[RubberChicken76]

Waterloo is too tied to Ottawa in political terms. Jim and Mike would prolly be springing into action.

Jim no longer has any involvement in RIM and Mike has little now too

[Tim-ANC]

Apple is a toy maker. They don't know how to supply tools for professionals.

If RIM need be acquired it should be by MS. Then the lines would be more firmly drawn.

[Arlie Magnussen]

Ridiculous - No way. Either Blackberry are gonna hit the dirt or or they are not either way I cant see why Apple would buy them. There is so much non-sense news on the web its hard to know what to believe sometimes

[shaleem]

Not a chance.

[SparkyBC]

RIM won't be taken over and they don't need to sell. In the next few years we can watch Apple sink as they're starting to do.

Apple can't even fix their own maps, thankfully google saved them by releasing an app yesterday for google maps. Apple truly doesn't know how to run a real tech company with innovation. Case an point the product line has been stale for years.. I don't think apple knows how to reinvent themselves and is already starting to show with the lack luster iphone.

[raino]

It's really up to the opposing company to sell

A hostile takeover takes care of that quite easily

[eyhab27]

A hostile takeover takes care of that quite easily

and a poison pill takes care of that.

[deltact]

Poison pills work differently in Canada, they can only delay the inevitable to buy time in the search for a white knight or to convince shareholders (assuming the acquirer isn't smart enough to have a hard lock-up on a decent majority of them).

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

The real question is why hasn't anyone bought RIM....

If RIM's corporate business was so valuable, if RIM's patents are so valuable, and if RIM network is so valuable.... then why didn't one of the Big Players buy RIM already. For some of them (Google, Apple, Samsung) RIM could have been purchased using their petty cash accounts. That no one has tried (as far as we know), is a good indicator of just how far RIM has really fallen.

[gtpointer]

This is stupid. Regardless of any corporate considerations, competition/anti-trust law would block this takeover instantly. BB's marketshare might be right down but the potential damage to consumers of Apple acquiring RIM would be so devastating it would be blocked. No question.

[kbz1960]

RIM won't be taken over and they don't need to sell. In the next few years we can watch Apple sink as they're starting to do.

Apple can't even fix their own maps, thankfully google saved them by releasing an app yesterday for google maps. Apple truly doesn't know how to run a real tech company with innovation. Case an point the product line has been stale for years.. I don't think apple knows how to reinvent themselves and is already starting to show with the lack luster iphone.

Not so long ago you can replace apple with rim

[tack]

Apple is too busy readying the release of its latest and greatest smartphone to date....the Iphone5's will be a iphone 5 , only it will have NFC a few other things that the 5 should have had.

I actually agree that Apple releases incremental updates, but that was also my complete experience with RIM through 5 phones. Android is the only platform where major hardware innovations come every year or more. That is because it is the only way to differentiate.

However, NFC is an early tech that I place no value on for any phone. Apple won't include it until they can make money on it for sure.

[BigBadWulf]

The real question is why hasn't anyone bought RIM....

If RIM's corporate business was so valuable, if RIM's patents are so valuable, and if RIM network is so valuable.... then why didn't one of the Big Players buy RIM already. For some of them (Google, Apple, Samsung) RIM could have been purchased using their petty cash accounts. That no one has tried (as far as we know), is a good indicator of just how far RIM has really fallen.

Or, because they're still financially in the black, have a good action plan, and no interest in being purchased currently.

[nocturnal123]

On the extremely tiny chance that Apple buys RIM I would immediately switch to Android IF it ever happened which it would not

[SuperionMaximus]

Jim no longer has any involvement in RIM and Mike has little now too

I don't know if I would say little. Mike is still the largest individual shareholder, vice chairman of the board, and director of innovation. So while he no longer has a role in the day to day operations of managing the business, he's still very much involved and engaged at the company. He's just in a role now that is better suited to his skills then running a multinational business which he had no prior experience at when he founded RIM. But make no mistake, RIM is still Mike's baby and he'll be a part of it probably until the day he dies.

[njblackberry]

And we all know what pride goeth before...

Absolutely right. Just look at RIM.

[peter9477]

I don't know if I would say little. Mike is still the largest individual shareholder, vice chairman of the board, and director of innovation. So while he no longer has a role in the day to day operations of managing the business, he's still very much involved and engaged at the company. He's just in a role now that is better suited to his skills then running a multinational business which he had no prior experience at when he founded RIM. But make no mistake, RIM is still Mike's baby and he'll be a part of it probably until the day he dies.

Well said. Also note that whatever he's working on, there's a reasonable chance it will be a big part of what provides RIM with longer term success beyond the first few years of BB10. The company needs to avoid the same mistake as the last time around, where it was focused on the end of its nose and missed the bigger picture. I fear for Apple that it's now in the same position, and I hope for Mike to help RIM avoid that the next time that situation might arise for the BlackBerry brand.

[silversun10]

what the tiered BB10 pricing indicates is the introduction of the BB10 might set off a price war where everybody will be a loser.
when Apple has to drop prices they stand to lose a lot of profits and so it would make sense to simply buy out RIM,
and what the market indicates is, that competition is not good for RIM.
think about it, Apple is strong in the US, RIM is strong in the rest of the world, Apple is consumer product and RIM for business.
so rather than a harmful fight with no winners in the end, why not would Apple buy RIM, just makes sense.
when? by June the picture should be clear whether the BB10 is for real and by that time Apple should buy RIM.

[notfanboy]

what the tiered BB10 pricing indicates is the introduction of the BB10 might set off a price war where everybody will be a loser.
when Apple has to drop prices they stand to lose a lot of profits and so it would make sense to simply buy out RIM,
and what the market indicates is, that competition is not good for RIM.
think about it, Apple is strong in the US, RIM is strong in the rest of the world, Apple is consumer product and RIM for business.
so rather than a harmful fight with no winners in the end, why not would Apple buy RIM, just makes sense.
when? by June the picture should be clear whether the BB10 is for real and by that time Apple should buy RIM.

I'm not following you there (see bolded). Price war? Which parties will be involved?

[YorkieRay]

what the tiered BB10 pricing indicates is the introduction of the BB10 might set off a price war where everybody will be a loser.
when Apple has to drop prices they stand to lose a lot of profits and so it would make sense to simply buy out RIM,
and what the market indicates is, that competition is not good for RIM.
think about it, Apple is strong in the US, RIM is strong in the rest of the world, Apple is consumer product and RIM for business.
so rather than a harmful fight with no winners in the end, why not would Apple buy RIM, just makes sense.
when? by June the picture should be clear whether the BB10 is for real and by that time Apple should buy RIM.

Apple can easily afford to sell the iPhone for less and still make a healthy profit. To me, the iPhone is massively overpriced and is the main reason why Apple can make profits that one stuffy investor's mag called "crazy". Just yesterday, an analyst suggested that Apple should introduce a lower spec iPhone, something that I have been saying for years.
It was Steve Jobs who once stated that the iPod Touch was "the iPhone without a contract" or that the iPhone was an iPod that you could make calls with. When you compare the 2 products the differences are minimal, but the iPhone is usually more than double the price of an equivalent iPod Touch. (iPod Touch 64GB US$399, iPhone 5 64GB US$849)
If Apple takes over RIM, they would either have to scrap the products, destroying customer choice or maintain a range of product choice for the customer, something that they have resisted so far.