Is BlackBerry maker Research in Motion about to buy rival Palm, maker of the Palm Treo? Investment news site Covert Stock Operations thinks so…
Investment news site, Covert Stock Operations believes that Research in Motion will announce a merger with Palm in their Q1 Fiscal 2007 earnings report this coming Thursday. The site doesn’t offer up any concrete evidence of an upcoming merger, however, this not the first time that we have heard this rumor.
Covert Stock Operations does give several good reasons as to why RIM and Palm should merge, the main one being that “80+% of PALM that is held by institutions have been pressuring PALM to take a buyout.” The post author also seems to think that the fact that both RIM an Palm are announcing quarterly earnings at the same time and the CFOs of both companies attended the Piper Jaffray 8th Annual Hardware & Communications Conference is more than just a coincidence.
I personally don’t know if a merger is coming, however, I don’t think that it would be a half bad idea if it did. With that, I will leave you with my Top Ten Reasons Research in Motion Should Buy Palm…
This would be a fascinating move if it happens.
Both RIM and Palm are great at delivering a fantastic end user experience. This would certainly open the door for RIM to release a BB device with camera/multimedia, etc.
I for one would like to see these two team up and avoid getting crowded out or seriously marginalized in their market by Microsoft. Windows Mobile has its strengths, but right now it lags behind both the BB OS and the Palm OS in usability. Yet Windows Mobile keeps making gains due to the huge leverage of Microsoft. In fact, Microsoft reminds me of WalMart…they have huge advantages of scale that enables them to in many ways overpower the competition, but the end user experience still sucks in comparison to the competition. Microsoft wins out in the end not so much due to having superior products, but superior market muscle.
Both RIM and Palm offer more elegant mobile solutions; I would like to see them both thrive in their market.