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Research In Motion To Be Sold, Possibly To Samsung

Posted by Soulskill on from the all-about-the-benjamins dept.

New submitter ve6ay writes "The talk of the tech world over the past day is that RIM, struggling mightily in these last months, was in talks to be bought either partially or wholly by Samsung. Sources at the Boy Genius Report indicate that while RIM may be trying to sell, it is asking way too much for itself."

7 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. An even better plan: by Mateo_LeFou · · Score: 4, Insightful

    An article for each senator who supports SOPA, with the corresponding senate.gov link

    --
    My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
  2. I don't understand what went wrong by billcarson · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't see at what point Blackberry failed? They started out as a messenger aimed at the corporate world, with reliability, uptime and ease of use as their selling points. They still offer that. The business world still has a need for this type of communication. What went wrong? I think it is a pity to see a motivated company like this go down.

    1. Re:I don't understand what went wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      (Posting AC because I'm at work)

      I don't see at what point Blackberry failed?

      What? Really? I can tell you the exact moment their downfall began. It's when the iPhone was announced and they decided they didn't have to adapt. Every other major phone maker quickly shifted gears, to one degree or another, except RIM. And RIM has been failing ever since. It's only recently that the downward fall has accelerated to this staggering degree but it all began the instant the iPhone was announced.

    2. Re:I don't understand what went wrong by Bert64 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They were revolutionary in their day, but now everyone offers email on their phones...

      They failed to move with the times, so now while they still offer the same features everyone else offers something more and RIM devices are now perceived as dated and boring.

      Their products are tied to Microsoft (BES requires windows and is primarily tied to exchange), who released a competitor in the form of activesync and bundle it for free with exchange, rim cannot possibly be cheaper because if you have everything you need to run a blackberry server you also have activesync, and likely also have an MS sales rep in your ear.

      They try to lock you in to their products (you need a blackberry server, a blackberry handset and a blackberry specific data plan), but aren't big enough to get away with this strategy... Even MS Activesync is more open, there are multiple implementations on both the client and server end, and they work with standard carrier data plans.

      They route traffic through their servers, creating an additional single point of failure. With a standard data plan the traffic is routed by the telco to your server via the Internet... With RIM the data is routed by the telco to rim via the internet, who they route it back to you via the internet... If RIM has an outage (and they have had several recently) then you are dead in the water... If your internet connection or telco suffers an outage you have the ability to change provider with minimal fuss, if RIM has an outage you have to migrate away from blackberry to another manufacturer which means changing your server infrastructure and replacing handsets.

      The non enterprise (ie consumer oriented) blackberry service is intentionally crippled.

      It is becoming more common for employees to provide their own phones rather than using company supplied ones, not many people want to buy a blackberry for their own use (partly due to the crippled consumer level service).

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      http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
    3. Re:I don't understand what went wrong by ckaminski · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The EPIC FAIL that was the Storm. That's the moment of failure. That they COULD turn the ship mid-course. But they turned it TOWARDS the whirlpool, not towards the beach with bikini-clad volleyball players.

      Sad.

  3. Re:sic transit gloria mundi by Swampash · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Dunno if I'd include NeXT in that list. It was bought out by a bigger richer company that wanted its technology and IP, and I'm posting using that technology right now.

  4. Slashdot's choice of stories is puzzling by walterbyrd · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There have been some real news stories, but slashdot won't publish those. Instead slashdot posts stories about rumors - even rumors that have been proved false.

    Can't wait for the next TechGuy Google smear rumor to be published on slashdot.