But let’s not forget that RIM could be broken apart. An acquisition tear in recent years, plus more than $1.35 billion spent on research in development in the latest fiscal year, has left RIM holding a crop of assets and intellectual property that could be valuable for rivals to pick over for spare parts. Of course, that would mean the death of RIM as we know it.
RIM’s operating system could be an intriguing purchase for Hewlett-Packard, which now owns the lovely but unpopular Palm operating system for smart phones. Handset makers like Motorola might be lured to buy The Astonishing Tribe, a Swedish company RIM recently bought that designs snazzy interfaces for smart phones. Patent companies, Google or other tech companies could scoop up QNX, the software company behind the PlayBook tablet computer, and RIM’s BBM messaging platform. A BMO research report recently said QNX is worth five to 10 times the $200 million that RIM paid for it last year.
RIM’s operating system could be an intriguing purchase for Hewlett-Packard, which now owns the lovely but unpopular Palm operating system for smart phones. Handset makers like Motorola might be lured to buy The Astonishing Tribe, a Swedish company RIM recently bought that designs snazzy interfaces for smart phones. Patent companies, Google or other tech companies could scoop up QNX, the software company behind the PlayBook tablet computer, and RIM’s BBM messaging platform. A BMO research report recently said QNX is worth five to 10 times the $200 million that RIM paid for it last year.