You have to hand it to RIM, when they see something they want, they really go after it. Earlier this week, RIM doubled their offer to security technology company Certicom, offering C$131.1 million or about 43% more than VeriSign’s bid. VeriSign has until Feb. 11 to submit an amended offer under its arrangement with Certicom, but analysts believe they are unlikely to prevail.
A counter-bid from VeriSign is unlikely, said Blackmont Capital analyst Lawrence Rhee, because RIM’s richer offer shows its commitment to acquire Certicom.
“They could notch it up higher, but I just think VeriSign thinks that RIM will come and outbid it again. So why go through that process,” Rhee said. “I think they’re both motivated to try and purchase this asset, it’s just I think RIM has proven that they want it more.”
Things won’t end too badly for VeriSign, as the company will receive a C$4 million termination fee if Certicom does not accept its bid. Hmm, sounds like a pretty nice chunk of change to help Certicom get a higher valuation out of RIM. However, it seems that acquiring Certicom is worth it for RIM regardless the cost.
“I wouldn’t say it’s all Certicom’s technology that explains the strength of the security around RIM. I think it’s a key component. I think what RIM wants is to be able to ensure continued development of ECC going forward. If its gets into a competitor’s hands … then maybe RIM would be worried,” Rhee said.
Hopefully this sordid affair will be over by February 11th, and we can avoid having it come to a duel-to-the-death between Jim Balsillie and VeriSign’s CEO.
Here’s some more video goodness of our time at AIM Autosport for the Telus BlackBerry Curve 8350i launch event. I had a great time talking to Ian Willis, one of the founders of AIM, about a variety of things: why his company needs a PTT BlackBerry running on the Mike network, how cool his car is, and a special project he’s working on with RIM/Telus (it’s quite cool). Ian is actually a BlackBerry Cool reader and also gave us a nice shout out. If you want to learn more about AIM (they have a great team and wicked cars), you can check out another video about them after the jump, or a link to their website below.
While at Telus’ BlackBerry Curve 8350i launch event, I had the opportunity to speak with Mark Applebaum, Director of Strategy & Marketing, Mobility Solutions at Telus. You can think of Mark as the enterprise version of Judy Mellet, who we interviewed at the BlackBerry Storm launch party. Watch the video above to learn which industries should choose the 8350i over the BlackBerry Curve, why a PTT (push-to-talk) BlackBerry is better than a separate communications system, and more about iDEN’s superior voice quality and in-building penetration. We also give a shout out to the ancient BlackBerry 7100i.
As for the talk-time stats Mark mentions in the video, they can be found at the link below.
Before I submitted to the mail client behemoth that is Outlook (or, more specifically, it’s purple Mac counterpart Entourage), I was a satisfied Thunderbird user. Unwilling to make the switch, however, a helpful member of the BlackBerry Nation has devised a way to integrate Thunderbird (on any other non-Outlook email client) with your BlackBerry in an Exchange fashion. Here’s a quick summary of the process.
Thunderbird is the primary email application that is used on a desktop to send, receive and file messages. Blackberry is a secondary email application that is used to send and receive email messages remotely. User needs to (1) use a single email address known to the outside world, (2) be able to receive and send email to and from this single email address from either the Blackberry or Thunderbird, (3) maintain a complete record in Thunderbird of all sent and received email (whether sent or received from the Blackberry or Thunderbird).
While it may sound like a MacGyver-esque process, we have the full instructions posted after the jump, in four quick steps. Post a comment and let us know if the solution works for you.
It’s Wednesday today, which means people around the world are sitting at their desks thinking about the weekend. To help you get by, we thought this photo of a tasty AT&T BlackBerry Curve cake would help numb the brain until Friday comes. If you’re into mixing and matching your smartphone flavors, there are iPhone and Helio Ocean cakes after the jump as well. A bunch more interesting cake designs can be found here.
It looks like RIM is taking care of business this week. One day after doubling their offer to security company Certicom, the Ontario Securities Commission said in a statement that they have reached a potential settlement with RIM’s co-CEO’s Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie following their investigation into a stock option scandal dating back to 1996.
The Ontario Securities Commission said in a statement on Tuesday that it would hold a hearing Feb 5 in Toronto on whether to approve a settlement its staff reached with the company and top executives including co-chief executives Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis.
The regulator issued a statement of allegations in which it alleged Balsillie, Lazaridis and other RIM executives “engaged in the grant of options, in which option backdating or option repricing occurred”. A call and e-mail to the company requesting comment on the specific allegations were not immediately returned.
While no indication of the settlement amount has surfaced, I’m sure RIM will be happy just to be able to put this behind them regardless of cost. We’ll find out tomorrow.
You have to hand it to RIM, when they see something they want, they really go after it. Earlier this week, RIM doubled their offer to security technology company Certicom, offering C$131.1 million or about 43% more than VeriSign’s bid. VeriSign has until Feb. 11 to submit an amended offer under its arrangement with Certicom, but analysts believe they are unlikely to prevail.
Before I submitted to the mail client behemoth that is Outlook (or, more specifically, it’s purple Mac counterpart Entourage), I was a satisfied Thunderbird user. Unwilling to make the switch, however, a helpful member of the BlackBerry Nation has devised a way to 
