

Ask HN: Who is going to buy RIM? - doubt_me

I personally bid for Motorola but then again I have no idea
======
avenger123
Why not Samsung? I would imagine having a portfolio of patents that they can
use to keep Apple at bay would be worth 6-7 Billion. Plus, they could use the
enterprise advantage that Blackberry has to further dominate their Android
position.

------
OrwellianChild
The only remaining viable part of BlackBerry (as RIM is known now) is their
BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) service, which is like WhatsApp, but came out a
decade ago. The user base is still very large (60m worldwide), so the platform
could valuable as a standalone offering or as part of another mobile services
company.

The patent portfolio will likely go to the highest bidder, independent of any
company assets. No one needs their devices or the OS. Google, Microsoft,
Apple, and Samsung are all candidates, or it may go to a consortium of
some/all, as has happened in the past with the sale of Nortel's portfolio.

------
benologist
I don't think Google has any pressing need to buy a 2nd struggling
manufacturer.

I would guess Amazon, Facebook, or maybe a big Chinese corporation.

------
timhargis
Fairfax supposedly is working on a deal for 4.7b but they are worried they
won't be able to acquire the necessary financing to make it happen.

[http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/fairfax-
st...](http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/fairfax-
strikes-47-billion-deal-to-buy-blackberry/article14470689/#dashboard/follows/)

------
jslonim
It's has no scence for a cellphone company to buy it, the company is going to
fail anywhere, the most reasonable opsibility is for some non-competitor
organization , I bet for canonical so they can make their phones with ubuntu..

------
pintglass
Why buy it? Looks like their customer base is heading for something close to 0
within a few years.

~~~
doubt_me
Their patents silly.

Now I am starting to think they will auction them off to get more money

------
pearjuice
RIM? That doesn't exist anymore. They are called "BlackBerry" these days[0].

[0] [http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-30/rim-changes-
company...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-30/rim-changes-company-name-
to-blackberry.html)

