BlackBerry is on the verge of change. Big change. The chances are it can’t go on like this and will likely end-up being acquired by Fairfax Financial in a deal worth some $4.7 billion. Then what? The way I see things, there are two roads going from there.
1. Fairfax could split BlackBerry into pieces and sell it off
BlackBerry still has some valuable assets, including the popular BBM, various software and a patent portfolio. The idea that was circulating around the Interwebs suggested that BlackBerry is worth more when split into pieces. This, of course, presumes there’s a buyer out there looking for BlackBerry’s assets.
2. BlackBerry could team-up with a Chinese vendor
This is the point of this article and that could be the future of what used to be the biggest company in Canada. Handset makers like Huawei and ZTE have a ton of cash but they’re having hard time getting their gear into the users across enterprises. Not to mention the government contracts.
With BlackBerry on their side, they could get millions of users and serve markets they weren’t able to serve before. Just imagine some Chinese ministry buying BlackBerrys for their employees. Yup, with BlackBerry’s technology on board, they could get an instant market for their products and services. And from there, BlackBerry could “go back to the West” for expansion, all while “conquering” neighboring markets across Asia, where it already has a strong user base.
A Chinese partner could also infuse some much-needed cash to keep the development of BlackBerry OS 10. And also chip-in for an R&D center in China to save some cash along the way.
This looks like a win-win scenario, and I’m sure that both ZTE and Huawei could easily pay more than $4.7 billion to acquire BlackBerry, all while making sure there’s future for the platform. What do you think?