Pretty much as long as BlackBerryCool has been around, we’ve been hearing about the possibility of Microsoft acquiring RIM. In a recent interview, Steve Ballmer addressed the potential for an acquisition, saying the decision to build versus buy is a complicated subject. Would RIM even consider a buyout? With all their latest acquisitions and foray into tablets and new markets, RIM is surely in it for the long haul and focused on building a company that would could be too big to acquire. From the interview:
Q: What has stopped you from making really bold bets on technology? You’ve got more than $40 billion on the balance sheet. If you want to have substantial market share in smartphones, why not just acquire Research In Motion, maker of the BlackBerry?
A: We’ve made bold technology bets. We’ve bet on the Cloud and our Enterprise business; it’s going fantastic. We made the bet on Xbox; we made the bet on Kinect. We bet on Bing and are growing like a weed in that business. So I feel pretty good about the bets. When do acquisitions make sense? That’s a complicated subject.
