Top 5 Most Wanted Tech Industry Mergers

RIM and Palm

According to mobile communications experts, Palm Inc. has a lot to offer with its Linux-based webOS mobile operating system, whose user interface is specifically designed for smartphone touchscreens. Snell believes that if BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) were to buy Palm, it could elevate the business world’s beloved smartphone to a whole new level. Nonetheless, MobileCrunch Editor Greg Kumparak says people are drawn to the BlackBerry for its well-built hardware—namely, the keyboard—and its email system. As such, he’s not certain how he feels about this merger because while BlackBerry could use a savvy OS like Palm’s to upgrade its look and features, that upgrade would probably take away a lot of the BlackBerry’s original draw. “It’d be a talent grab—there are a lot of talented people at Palm that RIM would love to have on their team, but I’m still not sure it’s the best idea for RIM,” he says.

But Snell disagrees. He thinks the merger would suit both companies well and could provide some actual competition to the iPhone. “This could be something new and exciting for BlackBerry,” he says. “Palm’s webOS would provide a good app platform that could possibly rival Apple’s.” However, were the merger to ever happen, Snell does note that the email app and hardware keyboard should be present in this hypothetical Palm-RIM hybrid phone to give it the authentic BlackBerry feel. At the very least though, in his opinion, there’s definitely acquisition potential here on one end of the spectrum: “Even if it’s not RIM, somebody should really buy up Palm,” he says.

Page 2 of 5