The more I look at the evolution of the smartphone space and what will surely be a highly disruptive (and AWESOME) wearable entry in Google Glass, the more I think a simply brilliant move by Apple would be to buy BlackBerry.
This would create a nearly unassailable device entry in the enterprise segment: Apple's ease of use with BlackBerry's security.
Now as readers know, the minute I saw Google Glass I said I loved it and that it would be huge, while most others asserted skepticism, if not outright negativity. In fact, right now I'm nearly convinced this will be the next huge consumer tech product and category and I didn't really need much more convincing in the last 4-6 months as my opinion was rock solid from the get go.
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But here's a rub. How does Google Glass and all the data that is going to flow through the product stay secure? Sure, there are plenty of ways, but the enterprise customer is never the early adopter. In fact, many times they are the last buyer of a huge consumer wave. After all, it took nearly two years before most companies completely gave up and joined the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) craze which Apple iPhones and iPads ushered in. And really, the iPad was the key device in turning the tide.
Thus, if Apple were to combine iPhone/iPad products with the vaunted RIMM, oh I mean BBRY security, they would secure an already steady revenue stream and possibly even grow it. This would then buy them time to bring forth their next slate of i-Somethings for consumer and enterprise use. Then, whatever huge amounts of future data/bandwidth are generated would already be riding on the highly-secure network and deemed safe for enterprise users.
Now do I think this is probable? Not at all. But I do think it's possible, and as stated above, I think this would be a master stroke for Apple.
DOJ concerns? None, as Apple doesn't even have 50 percent of U.S. market share anymore.
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Canadian government concerns? I don't think so, as Apple is a U.S. company, and it already has customer service call centers in Canada. Also, Apple could easily agree to keep the BlackBerry workers, R&D, and facilities in Canada.
Too high a deal price? Here again, I think AAPL would have a huge advantage. First, they could offer a lower price than most others and grant BlackBerry employees AAPL stock options at a much cheaper price as the stock has come down so much. Also, Apple can easily afford to pay a deal price that most other companies would balk at. In fact, AAPL could pay a 70-80 percent premium, or a $13.5-14.0 MCap, and hardly dent its own balance sheet!
Bottom line, the more I look the more I think this deal would be insanely great!
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