Plummeting Share Prices Could Leave RIM Vulnerable to Takeover

Alex Castle — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:20:45 -0500

Research In Motion, maker of the Blackberry, is in a bad way. The recent economic crisis has seen their stock fall from $148 to $60 in just 4 months, Reuters reports, leaving the company on shaky footing.

At the same time, Microsoft is looking to strengthen its presence in the handheld market, an arena recently invaded by two of the Redmond giant’s key rivals: Apple and Google. There have been rumors of Microsoft’s interest in RIM for years, but the Blackberry maker’s present financial situation has renewed and reinvigorated talk of a Microsoft takeover.

Peter Misek, an analyst with Canaccord Adams has said “RIM is a massive strategic fit [for Microsoft]. I’m fairly certain they have a standing offer to buy them at $50.”

It’s unknown how strongly the co-CEOs of RIM would oppose such a deal. If they resisted strongly, it’s considered unlikely that Microsoft would attempt a hostile takeover.

BlackBerry 8820

Tom Edwards — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:11:05 -0500

Ostensibly designed for business users who can’t have a cameraphone in the workplace, the BlackBerry 8820 is, in fact, a consumer-friendly device that includes one major upgrade over its predecessor, the 8800: Wi-Fi. And while this addition allows for speedier web browsing and better connections in spotty coverage areas, it comes with one major caveat—AT&T has chosen to allow Wi-Fi to carry only data, not voice, so VoIP, isn’t a possibility. That said, the inclusion of Wi-Fi is welcomed, particularly because RIM has made searching for and logging onto a network so simple.

Click Read More for more.

Maximum PC BlackBerry RSS Feed

Plummeting Share Prices Could Leave RIM Vulnerable to Takeover

BlackBerry 8820