With the Apple acquisition of Motorola, it looks like Microsoft could possibly follow suit by purchasing a much smaller company for it’s assets as well. Which company could that be? None other than Research in Motion, who have seen their stock prices drop significantly from a lack of investor confidence and shift in consumer preferences towards Apple products.
Currently Microsoft has almost no presence in the tablet or smartphone market. RIM has a loyal consumer base of more than 60 million users. They also have tablet technology which could provide Microsoft a huge opportunity as the tides turn away from laptops and to tablets and smart phones. It is imperative that Microsoft somehow makes a move into these two very important markets. Windows and Office are their main profit earners and as tablet purchases begin to chip away from laptop sales, Microsoft’s value will begin to dwindle if they do not enter the market. For Microsoft this is the perfect opportunity to begin to steal market share back from Apple, who over the last decade has completely
http://www.thetelecomblog.com/2011/05/04/rim-strikes-bing-agreement-with-microsoft/
overshadowed them in innovation. In the enterprise world where Microsoft is very strong, a business friendly tablet coupled with Windows software could be what Microsoft needs to climb back in the innovation race with Apple.