RIM should get in bed with Microsoft, Nokia style | Hacker News Reader

RIM should get in bed with Microsoft, Nokia style

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20 pointsGuzba10 comments

Wouldn't that give RIM an even smaller market share? They've already been working with Android and Android apps. They should just go full Android and focus on enterprise apps and services to differentiate.

>They should just go full Android and focus on enterprise apps and services to differentiate.

What enterprise apps and services will make their version of Android a must-have for enterprises that is worth 10/mo per device? Fighting with Android OEMs for marketshare will erode their margins in a cut throat market. Just see how HTC is struggling now. Not to mention no one knows how Google buying Motorola is going to mean for Android OEMs. Atleast with MS's history, there is no danger of that.

And what exactly will fighting over 1 million devices per month with Samsung, HTC, Nokia and a few others accomplish, especially when they all have to use the exact same UI and almost the exact same hardware? That sounds like an even higher commoditization level to me, and it's not even in a big market - it's in a tiny one.

Nokia has already cut the price of the Lumia 710 by $100 a month after it started selling in US. And besides it's not like WP phones can live in their own bubble. They have to compete with Android phones, too, and they usually have lower specs than Android alternatives at the same price level.

>And what exactly will fighting over 1 million devices per month with Samsung, HTC, Nokia and a few others accomplish

The point is to fight for the entire smartphone share.

>Nokia has already cut the price of the Lumia 710 by $100 a month after it started selling in US

Really? Then why is it the same here? http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/Phones/cell-phone-detail.aspx?c...

Not to mention that it hasn't been been a fortnight since they started selling it.

I don't have any inside knowledge, but it seems like RIM has some deep structural or managerial issues that are going to hamper any initiative they have in the near-term. Their recent quotes, as reported on in the New York Times and elsewhere today, on the appointment of their CEO, are way beyond corporate spin and into the realm of outright delusion. Markets/investors, developers, consumers appreciate honestly, but that's not at all what we're getting from RIM recently.

What if they embraced both operating systems and charged more for their hardware? IMO BB currently has the best hardware and worst software.

If I could have bought a BlackBerry Android phone I would have easily spent an additional $50 on it. $50 upfront is really nothing for business customers who need reliability and a great email app.

Are you counting the Storm 1 in the 'best hardware' category? Or just the newest of the new?

The current "Blackberry Bold 9900" is definitely at the top of the current generation of hardware.

Nope. Amazon should buy RIM:

1. RIM makes decent hardware, crappy software. Amazon makes great software, not great hardware. 2. Amazon really knows how to sell stuff. 3. Kindle and Blackberry products won't need to compete anymore. 4. Amazon has lots of content to put on RIM devices.

RIM's OSes have always been conservative because they're very corporate-oriented. I don't think that WP7 fits into that category- I love it, but it would be a huge, massive leap fro m what RIM has done before now.

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