There’s a new battle of Waterloo going on, and this time it’s not in Belgium. Canada’s long-time technology standard bearer, RIM, is fighting for survival amidst dismal sales and waning consumer interest.
With the release of BlackBerry 10 and the accompanying new hardware now pushed back to early 2013 — a full year later than it was originally promised — things don’t look good.
With an uneasy board feeling the ever-increasing heat (surely at Robot Devil levels now) from investors, RIM is now feeling the pressure to consider all possible options to right the ship. On that list: getting into bed with Microsoft.
The relationship could take a number of forms, of course. There’s no doubt that Microsoft would love to acquire a good chunk of RIM’s patent portfolio. Doing so would further protect Windows Phone and give Microsoft additional ammunition in its ongoing licensing “skirmishes” with Android OEMs. Another option would be a Nokia-style collaboration. RIM’s board is reportedly not too keen on giving up the amount of control they’d be required to if Microsoft were to buy a stake in the company and kick in for R&D and marketing expenses.
And don’t forget about Windows Phone 8. RIM could stop developing their own mobile OS, thereby allowing more time and effort to be devoted to higher-margin enterprise products and services.
Would that really be a good idea, though? With an uncertain future and no new OS for at least six months, it’s hard to imagine that competing against HTC and Samsung with Windows Phone 8 would really be any harder than competing with them using an OS that most of the western world has already lost interest in.
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