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back to article Cash-happy BlackBerry slurps one-time rival Good for $425m

BlackBerry has dug deep into its lint-filled pockets to buy its one-time legal adversary Good Technology for a cash sum of $425m (£280m). BlackBerry hopes the deal will allow it to beef up its presence in the enterprise mobile management space. John Chen, BlackBerry chief exec, said the acquisition will expand its offering in …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ugh oh...

    That would make for a very interesting portfolio to give to the patent lawyers for a dawn visit to Apple, Google and other usual suspects.

    1 0 Reply
  2. Afflicted.John

    This has literally made my day Gooder... it certainly laughs in the face of "I thought BlackBerry were dead" management types around here. Hooray! Maybe we can all be happily BIL2 secure in the near future.

    3 0 Reply
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Huh?

    What's the play here for RIM? They invested a crap-ton of money into their unified MDM platform, so is that now all just going away, to be replaced by Good servers? Or the other way around? Are they just buying a customer list?

    We left RIM for Good, literally. Unless they have a compelling story around this acquisition, and soon, I'll be giving my AirWatch rep a call.

    0 0 Reply
    1. a_a
      Reply Icon

      Re: Huh?

      Same here, replacing Blackberry devices with Android + Good.

      0 0 Reply
    2. DaedalusIcarusHelios
      Reply Icon
      Alien

      Re: Huh?

      Customers, patents, additional market share. Also, Good has technology that BB can incorporate for better iOS container technology. This will all be put into a better version of BES12 or its successor. In other words, a better product will emerge for users. This is a great move by BlackBerry.

      This is a pretty good interview with both sides on what this deal brings: http://blogs.blackberry.com/2015/09/blackberry-to-acquire-good-technology-executive-point-of-view/

      0 0 Reply
  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Poor old RIM, it's like watching someone decline through Alzheimer's

    0 2 Reply
  5. An ominous cow herd

    When BlackBerry where called RIM

    Or, as the Reg used to call them "Lawsuits in Motion"? This seems like a remnant of those times.

    1 0 Reply
  6. firu toddo
    FAIL

    Follow the Money.

    $73m in profit before tax on $658m from a $6m loss on $966m in the same period last year. Looks like the results of cost cutting rather than an expanding business. But when you look at the current offerings you begin to understand why.

    The massive (and confusing) cost of running on site BES12 against the costs of an on site BES5 (and they just went up again!) do suggest RIM are trying to milk the Enterprise market for all they can get. In reality the high costs are driving people to AirWatch and others.

    BES12, the multi-platform management tool has no real attraction when other tools can manage the same devices, using the same activesync technology for less cash. The reality is that the more expensive RIM licensing and handset costs mean that I will probably just manage iOS, WIndows and Android phones via activesync using a different management tool.

    All in all it is becoming very difficult to recommend RIM/BES/Blackberry as the goto Enterprise platform any more.

    0 0 Reply
  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh, Good

    As in, not very. As in, makes Outlook look good in comparison. As in, Good God, what is this crap?

    1 0 Reply
  8. Daniel B.
    Happy

    Interesting move

    Good is the solution that ate up Blackberry's market share in previous years. With this move, they just got it back. Not really surprised.

    0 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Interesting move

      "...they just got it back."

      Temporarily, perhaps. I was escaping from the uncertainty of RIM's direction when I left for Good. I'll be looking for refuge once again.

      0 0 Reply

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