“BlackBerry was once the most popular smartphone maker in the world. But things did not last long,” Rizzi Capital opines for Seeking Alpha. “The company is now a money bleeding mess, having lost almost $1 billion last quarter alone, with revenue dropping by 45%. It’s a sad story for what was once the most valuable company in Canada.”
“BlackBerry gained it’s massive following not because of it’s appeal to regular consumer users, but because it was the communication device of choice for millions of corporate users. BlackBerry focused on delivering secure communication services over its private enterprise server network and this allowed it to win over enterprise customers worldwide,” Rizzi Capital writes. “This is exactly the same technology which will come to its rescue again and it’s the precise reason Apple Inc (AAPL) will soon see fit to enter negotiations to purchase the company.”
“Let’s make one thing absolutely clear, Apple does not need to buy BlackBerry. Apple has it’s own iMessage service which is comparable although not identical to the BlackBerry messaging service,” Rizzi Capital writes. “It can be argued that most services offered by Apple are already better and in fact more established than those offered by BlackBerry. Regardless of this, there are some very compelling reasons for Apple to spend a tiny fraction of its immense cash hoard and buy this once great company.”
“The main reason that Apple should buy BlackBerry is simply to keep it out of everybody else’s hands. Does Apple really want to see Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook or Google takeover BlackBerry and gain an instant position in the competitive smartphone market? With almost $150 billion dollars just sitting dormant on its balance sheet, Apple could casually toss BlackBerry a few bones and put it out of its misery,” Rizzi Capital writes. “Even if they shuttered the company and never sold another BlackBerry smartphone, they would eliminate a competitor and keep a valuable property from getting into a large competitors hands.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If the main reason why Apple should buy beleaguered BlackBerry is the very same reason why Apple should’ve at one time bought beleaguered Palm, beleaguered RealNetworks, beleaguered Creative Technology, beleaguered ad nauseam, but didn’t, then your logic is fatally flawed.
If BlackBerry was “a valuable property,” they’d still have a future instead of dying on the roadside after being steamrolled by Apple.
Apple’s so-called competitors can scrape up all of the iPhone roadkill they desire. They still won’t be able to compete with Apple. Period.
Hey, Rizzi Captal, you’re kidding! Right?
Yeah, thanks for reminding me to keep my assets far away from Rizzi Capital’s management!
Hah! I saw the “headline” and knew immediately it had to be from Seeking Alpha. Puhleeze! Great bunch of creative writers in that bunch.
If the purpose of Apple buying Blackberry is to keep it out of the hands of competitors then the purchase would be an illegal restraint of trade by the market’s dominant player. There are still plenty of valid reasons why Apple could scrape up Blackberry (and plenty more why it shouldn’t), but if Rizzi Capital gets paid to advise people and companies to commit illegal acts then it ought not to be in business.
Quite simply you’re wrong.
First,Apple does not dominate the smartphone business, particularly from an international point of view and both companies are international. Since Blackberry currently does better overseas you could easily argue Apple was making itself more competitive outside N. America. Second while keeping away technology from others would happen buying Blackberry would have real use for Apple. BBM integrated into iMessage could certainly be a plus and Apple would also have sole, or part, ownership of at least some patents it uses.
Working at Goldman Sachs with a BlackBerry is such a pleasure. I tried using the iPhone 5S but the worse than useless iOS 7 gave me the jitters. The iPhone is a good phone hardware wise but it’s terribly crippled by the OS which makes for an unproductive phone, something I don’t need here at Goldman Sachs.
Yes, because the whole world should revolve around the needs of the nobility that work at Goldman Sachs
May I call Bullshit?
Since I know and use iOS 7 on three different gadgets, I know you are full of it. The OS is even better than iOS 6 and that is saying something.
If BlackBerry is so damn good why is the company circling the bowl?
Rim shot.
Hey wolfie, I didn’t know they had a Subway sandwich shop at G-S. Make mine with southwest sauce please.
Oh yay it’s you…
Mr Wolf, I would suggest that if you get the jitters using a phone OS like iOS 7, you should cut back on the recreational pharms, they’re obviously doing you no good at all. All that Bolivian Disco Powder might enhance your aggressive market dealings, but nothing else.
And if you find it crippled now, then explain what wasn’t crippled before, because I can see no essential difference in the day-to-day usage of 7 over 6.
I just think you’re full of shit.
Lol.. You are funny and pathetic.Yesterday u posted under a different id spewing the same garbage out about ios7. Lol
Give it up bozo!
Who is paying u to write garbage! ?
Using the same logic, Apple should buy Microsoft, Yahoo!, the UK Blockbusters chain, numerous music and video companies and of course it’s own recycling company to deal with all the dead physical assets it would acquire.
I would say the chance of Apple buying Backberry is 0.0000000000000000000001%. There is probably more chance of Apple buying Intel and Blackberry.
The only reasons I can think of for Apple to buy Blackberry would be (a) IF they have valuable patents that Apple could leverage, and (b) IF there are still any good engineers left that Apple would get in the acquisition.
Note that those are two big IFs. But if either or both are true, then Apple may very well do so. I doub it, though.
MDN’s take is right: too many Anal-ysts use flawed logic to advocate their position. Blackberry is still a decent product and it actually could still have a decent share of the smartphone market. But the reason they don’t is because the company was horribly mismanaged by their various CEOs, and that is why they are now in a buyout position.
Apple doesn’t need to acquire Blackberry. The only reason I can come up with for Apple to even contemplate such a purchase is if they felt they needed the Blackberry brand to make inroads into the Enterprise/Government Market. But the iPhone and the iPad are doing this nicely, on their own. So no need to own Blackberry.
I would argue that Blackberry’s IP and infrastructure may be valuable to Apple, but even with that … no, Apple does NOT need to buy Blackberry, and it wouldn’t hurt them if one of their competitors did buy it.
The article is logical and makes perfect sense.
The question is if Apple will buy Blackberry.
Or, or.. What iffff BB buys Apple, which is just about as likely to happen. Apple’s already poaching BB’s mismanaged talent. Not much else they need besides possible IP which probably isn’t worth much.
is it too late for Apple to buy Dell?
what about Delorean?
Apple should buy Nokia……oh, hang on a sec….
Indeed Apple should have scooped up Nokia when it had the chance. Apple needs the in-house manufacturing capacity and the additional distribution channels more than ever.
Plus, it would be fun to see corporate raider Elop dumped on his fat ass while Ballmer pouts about not getting his way.
Apple owning Blackberry? There is a certain symmetry and karma with both fruit companies under the same roof. iPhone as the consumer brand, and Blackberry as the no-nonsense less colorful work phone. I would love a less colorful no-nonsense iPhone.
It’s called the 5s.
The only reason Apple would buy Blackberry is to give them a decent burial, which they evidently can’t afford to pay for themselves.
YEP! Apple should buy Blackberry @ 50¢ CAD per share.
Actually, come to think of it…Apple should have bought a cryonics company before Steve passed away.
I think Facebook will buy buy them. They have had several meetings in Menlo Park already. That would get Facebook into the cellular game and could be a winner.
Yea. That Facebook HTC phone was a real hit. Right up there with the Microsoft Kin!
“…gain an instant position…”
LOL! Yeah, the position of dead last.
Blackberry owns QNX, located in Ottawa, and it makes software for automobiles not to mention Blackberry itself, and Blackberry has a lot of excellent talent which is being picked off by a number of companies including Apple as it downsizes.
If Apple were to buy Blackberry with a view to continuing its operations in Canada on a stand alone basis, it would likely receive approval from the Canadian government, certainly as preferred to an asian manufacturer. Apple would gain valuable intellectual property, take advantage of QNX (especially in the automotive software sphere), be able to increase “market share” with comparatively low end product, keep the talent in house as opposed to moving to its competitors. Best of all, its Canadian company operations would be subject to the comparatively low federal corporations tax rate, and proximity to excellent university computer science schools would be a big plus for its ongoing and increasing need for high end talent. Letting all this pass to the likes of MS, Goog, Yah, etc. seems an awful shame.
Wouldn’t buying QNX make more sense than buying all of RIM just for QNX and the talent at RIM?
Besides, if the location itself is so interesting it would be easier for Apple to set up a branch there itself, rather than buying a company it helped kill and trying to integrate an existing and different corporate culture in it’s organization.
Chances are a lot of people would leave anyway if Apple bought RIM, so picking off the talents that they want or need seems the better strategy.
Or Rizzi Capital owns a stake in RIM and wants to salvage what it can, or my flip-flops are smarter than these guys.
Why would anyone buy RIM, unless maybe to litigate with the patent portfolio? (If even possible)
As if Apple, Google, Amazon or Facebook need RIM’s ‘help’ with secure messaging or server security.
As if Microsoft or Google need yet another hardware manufacturing money burner, that doesn’t even run their platform.
Got to love these so called ‘experts’… 😉
Forget Blackberry, Apple should buy Nintendo!!
Zelda on an iPhone? Yes please…
Best idea I heard this month… 🙂
Being a Japanese company, I don’t believe a non Japanese company can own more than 49%, unless that has changed.
TL;DR
The use of “it’s” instead of “its” renders any opinion in the article idiotic by association.
While their handset business may be dead, I bet BlackBerry still has a valuable patent portfolio. Rather see Apple buy it than Google/Motorola.
And perhaps some stuff from QNX. Could be incorporated into iOS.
“Does Apple really want to see Microsoft . . . takeover BlackBerry”
I can’t thing of a better reason for Apple to NOT buy beleaguered BlackBerry. 😉
Apple should buy my house.
The main reason that Apple should buy my house is simply to keep it out of everybody else’s hands. Does Apple really want to see Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook or Google take over my house and gain an instant position in the competitive real estate market? With almost $150 billion dollars just sitting dormant on its balance sheet, Apple could casually toss me a few bones and put me out of my misery, Even if they shuttered the house and never let anyone live in it, they would eliminate a competitor and keep a valuable property from getting into a large competitor’s hands.
Now on the market at only four times what I paid for it last year.
It would actually make some sense for Apple to buy a part of BlackBerry. The IP and the secure network.