Another good read... RIM content

[jeSteR]

http://www.bgr.com/2011/06/30/open-lett ... round-him/

[joel]

i am a bit skeptical to the authenticity of the letter from this RIM senior exec.

[[JT]]

Jai start putting together a resume for RIM CEO. Looks like theyve got some major strategic issues!

[[JT]]

[nature boy]

the letter itself is real but my question is if it's really a high level exec who wrote it. everyone seems to think so and i guess the site said that they verified it, but i have my doubts.

they talked about this letter on crackberry and that steve guy or whatever his name is said that he was thinking about writing a similar letter. but then he decided against it because he figured that the ceo's already know what's up and there's no point.

having said that, here's another interesting read:
http://crackberry.com/10-reasons-why-go ... rch-motion

[jeSteR]

^ So much for hoping on that bail out plan for RIM

Google's got all the patent rights they need now with this

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/ ... quire.html

[Wetundies]

Dell will be their knight in shinning armor, since they seem like the only one left with enough money. Then again, they did give up on BB for their workforce. Or maybe Facebook wants to get into the smart phone business with a Facephone.

[nature boy]

i read somewhere that google buying motorola actually opened up a whole can of worms that should have been left shut. however, what that exactly means escapes me, so i probably shouldn't even have brought it up.

having said that, lol on facephone and shinning.

[geForce]

Facebook has already said that they have no plans to be in the phone manufacturing business. They have "bigger" plans... which right now, it seems like a "Facebook" button on every cell phone out there. Besides... Microsoft has shares in Facebook, so they're not going to want to buy in on a competing mobile business (Windows Phone 7 vs BB).

Dell is pretty heavily invested in Android for their phones now and I think they've had some success in that. They're probably not going to want to buy in on a sinking ship like BB.

Two epic fail stories out there right now that have taught companies to think twice about buying failing cell phones businesses - Nokia and HP. Nokia went all in on Windows Phone 7 and has rapidly lost whatever market share they had. HP bought Palm OS and put in huge marketing dollars into the Touchpad and Pre, but is also failing in this. Best Buy U.S. has 200,000 Touchpads that aren't selling and they want HP to take the stock back.

Motorola reported losses in this year, but Android phones in general are gaining market share. Google is already manufacturing their own cell phones, so buying an established cell phone brand name like Motorola isn't a bad idea. Motorola has been very heavily invested into the Android technology and used it exclusively for their devices, so that's why Google likes them. I think the "can of worms" people are talking about though is the fear from the other cell manufacturers using Android, namely Samsung. They're scared that since Google has vested interest in Motorola, they will somehow neglect the other manufacturers in terms of Android support.

[jeSteR]

Poppycock. The overriding reason that Google bought out Motorola was strictly to build up their patent defense. The manufacturing arm is merely a bonus. Google fully intends to keep android open source and run Motorola as a separate division. They have zero expertise in anything other than software so it would be best for them to keep the hardware division at an arm's length. Google knows that they'll NEVER touch Apple numbers without supporting multiple hardware manufacturers. They need the strength in numbers to stay competitive against Steve Job's minions.

Look at Kodak. Their whole company is worth no more than $600 Million at best, but the number of patents that they own alone could easily be worth over $6 Billion on the market right now. That's why their board of directors recently decided to present a defense tactic to their share holders to deter any hostile takeover attempts. Probably from Google or Microsoft, my money is on Google.

The more I think about it though, as Win 7 mobile goes the way of Windows mobile, MS might seriously consider making an offer for RIM. I'm sure that the stubborn suits over at RIM though would rather die an embarassing death than be bought out by them. Too bad though as QNX has a LOT of promise, if they could get it on the market NOW. 8 months down the road is just too late, AGAIN. BB OS7 is not a big enough band aid to hold them over.

[geForce]

Why would Google take on Motorola for patent defense when Motorola along with Samsung is being sued for hardware patent infringements by Apple and is apparently losing? Apple has won in Europe and has successfully blocked Samsung sales in Europe and Motorola is next on Apple's list.

Besides, the cutting edge hardware patents aren't really with Motorola.. Moto has mainly run Android pure without any significant unique hardware add-ons. It's the Asus and Samsung techs that have the most innovative ideas.

I don't think Microsoft would buy out RIM though... Microsoft is just as stubborn about their own branding and technology. They'd rather let their brands die out (i.e. Zune, HD DVD) than buy out another dying brand to try to revitalize it. They're still refusing to incorporate bluray into the Xbox due to pure stubbornness. I see them buying out Nokia before they would buy RIM though.

RIM is in prime position for a buyout though.... their share prices have dropped so much, they can easily be bought by any large corporation.

[jeSteR]

That's only on one patent. And at the end of the day, this isn't really about stealing intellectual property, it's about bullying.

The sucessful bid for Nortel's patents by Apple and MS were for only 6000 or so patents, of which a lot were for infrastructure. Motorola has over 18000 patents, mostly in the mobility hardware and software space. Motorola didn't have the cashflow to counter sue Apple on (pick a patent out of a hat) but Google does. This buyout gets Google back in the game. With only the android platform, as they got sued, they had no grounds to go countersue. Now they have a plethora to choose from. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter who is infringing on who's patent cuz EVERYONE does. It's all about whether you have enough where with all to deter a law suit with an equally expensive countersuit. If you do, everyone knows that eventually it either ends in a settlement or a cross licensing agreement. In that case, the only people walking away with net positive money then are the lawyers.

[nature boy]

[geForce]

[Wetundies]

Someone should patent speed dialing with your thought, 10 years from now it'll be worth something.