Could Ubuntu save RIM?

[cptrohn]

If they partnered up to provide phones with Ubuntu installed?

[kostkon]

Too late for that (it's called Blackberry now actually, the RIM name is obsolete). They didn't use Android, which could have made a huge difference in sales, and decided to replace their old OS with a new one (albeit a very good one, real time OS, but it doesn't matter now) for their latest smartphones, what makes you think they would choose Touch now?

[PJs Ronin]

Technology is a cruel mistress. If you don't have an edge you quickly become passé and fade into a memory. The only thing left in Blackberry is some patents.

[mJayk]

Too late for that (it's called Blackberry now actually, the RIM name is obsolete). They didn't use Android, which could have made a huge difference in sales, and decided to replace their old OS with a new one (albeit a very good one, real time OS, but it doesn't matter now) for their latest smartphones, what makes you think they would choose Touch now?

http://www.rim.com/index_na.shtml

RIM are a holder for bb.

But I agree BB have left it to late.

[grahammechanical]

Yippee, another crowd-funding campaign!

Mark Shuttleworth might have more money than I can dream of but I doubt that he could buy Rim or even the Blackberry parts of it. Can you imagine the insults that would be hurled at him if he brought up so much as a patent out of the wreckage?

I remember Jono Bacon answering someone's question about Ubuntu producing mobile devices. The answer was: Canonical is a software company and there is no intention of making it a hardware company as well.

Regards.

[cptrohn]

Yippee, another crowd-funding campaign!

Mark Shuttleworth might have more money than I can dream of but I doubt that he could buy Rim or even the Blackberry parts of it. Can you imagine the insults that would be hurled at him if he brought up so much as a patent out of the wreckage?

I remember Jono Bacon answering someone's question about Ubuntu producing mobile devices. The answer was: Canonical is a software company and there is no intention of making it a hardware company as well.

Regards.

True enough, but I also remember Shuttleworth saying they had no interest in a mobile or a tablet OS either. Things change when money is involved.

[cptrohn]

Too late for that (it's called Blackberry now actually, the RIM name is obsolete). They didn't use Android, which could have made a huge difference in sales, and decided to replace their old OS with a new one (albeit a very good one, real time OS, but it doesn't matter now) for their latest smartphones, what makes you think they would choose Touch now?

Nobody is going to have to wait for them to "choose" anything. BB is going down the tubes. The only thing keeping them afloat is the encryption they offer. Somebody will buy them just for that alone.

[SeijiSensei]

When CEOs began buying iPhones, the writing was on the wall for Blackberry. What made BB work was its infrastructure as much as its phones. A complete BB system included the messaging server that handled all the company's traffic to and from the phones and with the public Internet. Exchange posed one threat to that infrastructure, but the diversification of smart phones was the real killer. IT departments were faced with having to make iPhone-carrying executives happy, and that meant moving away from the Blackberry platform.

I don't see anything that could result in a resurgent Blackberry. The putative buyers are talking about the value of RIM's patents, but I doubt they have much that makes the multi-billion dollar figures being mooted a worthwhile investment.

[aysiu]

Last year, my company had about ten Blackberry users. This year, everyone has either an iPhone, an Android phone, or a Windows phone. No one has a Blackberry.

[cptrohn]

When CEOs began buying iPhones, the writing was on the wall for Blackberry. What made BB work was its infrastructure as much as its phones. A complete BB system included the messaging server that handled all the company's traffic to and from the phones and with the public Internet. Exchange posed one threat to that infrastructure, but the diversification of smart phones was the real killer. IT departments were faced with having to make iPhone-carrying executives happy, and that meant moving away from the Blackberry platform.

I don't see anything that could result in a resurgent Blackberry. The putative buyers are talking about the value of RIM's patents, but I doubt they have much that makes the multi-billion dollar figures being mooted a worthwhile investment.

They support the only encryption that is approved by the US DOD and other governments. Thats what makes them worth money right now.