RIM seeks bailout buddies as banks count Heins' beans

RIM has hired bankers to give it a health check and possibly pair up the BlackBerry maker with other businesses. The mobe manufacturer added that it is likely to make an operating loss this quarter and struggle financially for several more. The beleaguered Canadian biz also confirmed it will dramatically cut costs including " …

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh can't resist

"CEO predicts more half-baked finances"

I predict a riot, I predict a riot

I predict a riot, I predict a riot....In the boardroom.

So it's the old (1) Reduce overheads (2) ????? (3) Sold routine then is it.

Money on Facebook buying them, not ideal but probably the best match out there for both sides. The alternative would be the good old asset stripping types and it would appear RIM are catering towards them as well.

Remind me somebody what happened to Nortel, deja vue somewhat so far.

--

Joke alert in honour of RIM managment and the fact they pissed of the wrong people }->

[Rick Leeming]

Circling The Drain....

It's a shame to see, as they made some very good products, for many years. They should just roll themselves as a Software and Services company, and let another manufacturer make the handsets.

A Microsoft/Nokia alliance is the obvious one to buy them out, Nokia rolling out handsets (their economy of scale would probably make it viable), and MS dealing with the software. Let Windows Phone live in the consumer marketplace, and let the Blackberry OS and Services live in the business arena (with a cheap handset or two for the Chavs).

I Liked Blackberry products, and had a personal Blackberry or years, but they appear to have lost their way. Shame really, they did some killer products. I had an 8900 at one point, and "Upgrading" to the Torch 9800 was probably the worst handset swap I've done. The 8900 could take a beating and keep on ticking, the Torch was a fiddly bugger that needed rebooting every day.

[Anonymous Coward]

No tears here

I am forced to use a Blackberry for work and it is utter shite. Just doing the simplest of tasks on leaves a lot to be desired. Thank god I have my android phone as a backup.

[Daniel B.]

The day BlackBerry goes down

... is the day I'm switching back to feature phones. None of the options left are secure enough to trust my mobile stuff on it. Symbian? Dead, thanks to MS' mole. Android? It's got Google's info scraper. iOS? No walled gardens, thank you very much. WebOS? Killed by HP.

We really need a decent option, and if we lose BB, there's nothing left.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: The day BlackBerry goes down

You're a BB fan and yet don't want iOS because it's a "walled garden"... A real WTF moment there buddy...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: The day BlackBerry goes down

Not heard of MobileIron?

Not heard of VMware Hypervisor that separates business and personal OS on Android phone?

Both excellent security solutions.

[Shonko Kid]

That handy death-spiral checklist in full...

[x] No real innovation for ages

[x] Slash jobs, especially those expensive developers

[X] Bright new platform, preferably with a Linux/Un!x kernel to please the hax0rz

[X] Rats deserting sinking ship

[ ] Appoint new CEO from competitor

[ ] Announce all your products are shit

[ ] License unproven competitor's platform

[ ] Piss off your entire customer base

[ ] Die

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: That handy death-spiral checklist in full...

Wow, Nokia are MUCH further down that list...

[x] No real innovation for ages

[x] Slash jobs, especially those expensive developers

[X] Bright new platform, preferably with a Bloated Windows kernel to please the hax0rz

[X] Rats deserting sinking ship

[X ] Appoint new CEO from competitor

[X ] Announce all your products are shit

[X] License unproven competitor's platform

[X] Piss off your entire customer base

[ ] Die

[Anonymous Coward]

And just when I was thinking of buying one

Had a pearl for a while but the condensed keypad drove me nuts when responding to e-mail.

Went back to a feature phone, Nokia 6700, tried with an SE Xperia Ray but I just dont get on with texting with touchscreens.

Currently using a Nokia Asha 300 and was weighing up a BB but of course if the compamy goes titsup and the servers are switched off then bye bye push e-mail and a few other features too.

The market is touch screens a go-go but not everyone wants a bloody touch screen surely.

Blackberry seems to be the last refuge for us keypad fans unless of course I buy a Doro, errr no thanks.

Here's hoping RIM survive and keep the keypad.

[Magnus_Pym]

Fashion spike

A steady company's products suddenly become 'fashionable' and sales rise. The company thinks this is growth and invests accordingly. The the fashion dies suddenly, as fashions do, and the company is left in the position of Wylie Coyote having walked over the edge of a cliff. Happens all the time in the clothing industry.

[James 100]

Within minutes of having to handle a BB for work, I wanted the company to die a painful death. The pointy little keys digging into my fingers, the clunky menus obviously scrounged from the "MS DOS Shell" (back before Microsoft were sure these new-fangled GUI things would catch on) ... that turkey just wasn't designed to survive in the 21st century.

As for security ... my mail all comes over SSL straight from my servers, and has had very very few remote exploits of any kind ... would diverting it through an extra potential point of failure really help at all? If and when RIMM folds and the servers go quiet, the handsets are little more than paperweights - any standards-based handset will keep handling IMAP/SMTP mail quite happily regardless.