Can’t decide between a Samsung smartphone and a BlackBerry?
Soon, you may not have to. The struggling Canadian company that first allowed you to check your e-mail on the go may be looking to sell to the South Korean electronics giant, now that it has been blown out of the water by the iPhone and Android invasion.
Research In Motion won’t confirm or deny the news on Boy Genius Report that a deal may be in the works. The report said Samsung might view RIM’s highly popular BlackBerry Messenger network as a way to differentiate itself within the wide world of manufacturers using Google’s open-source Android operating system. Other makers include HTC, Motorola, Pantech and Sony Ericsson.
Dropping Fast
RIM’s motivation to sell is clear: BlackBerry’s share of the smartphone market in 2011 (as of October) fell to 10 percent from 25 percent in 2010, and a high of 44 percent in 2009, according to figures from the NPD Group. At the same time, Android’s share soared from just 2 percent in its debut year of 2008 to 53 percent at the time of the study, while Apple’s iOS shot from 11 percent in 2007, the year the iPhone was introduced, to 29 percent.
RIM has struggled to adapt, building up the inventory of its BlackBerry App World and releasing its first touchscreen phone, the Storm, in 2008, but hasn’t been able to keep up with the multi-OEM, multi-carrier Android releases.
BGR says RIM co-Chairman Jim Balsillie is meeting with many potential buyers of all or part of the company, but is “going hard after Samsung,” according to one source. The estimated price tag: $ 10 billion to $ 15 billion.
A RIM spokeswoman had no comment when we reached her by e-mail, saying, “RIM’s standard policy is to decline comment on rumors and speculation.”
Charles King, principal…
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