Microsoft buy BlackBerry? Not gonna happen. Ever.
When I was out of town and off the grid visiting my Mom over Labor Day weekend, the Blogosphere was humming with all sorts of rumors that Microsoft was in talks with BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion to buy the company.
But hey guess what.
We're now two days into this short work week, and that jiveasset (tee hee) meme has dissipated in a cloud of smoke.
MSFT buy BlackBerry? Never gonna happen. I could see some strategic partnerships, such as making Office documents more iteratively viewable on RIM's proprietary platform. But what would Microsoft do with a BlackBerry platform that is a rival to their own Windows Mobile? Spend $46.46 billion (RIM's market value at the end of today's trading) or therabouts just to make RIM go away?
The next time you read such rumors, don't think of them in conjunction with the floor of the stock exchange. Think of them in conjunction with the floor of the stockyard, if ya know what I mean.
Why?
Microsoft can spend far less money and architect solutions that would be highly competitive with BlackBerry.
In fact, they already are.