Computers & Electronics

Lenovo to consider purchasing Blackberry?

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  • Oct 19th, 2013 5:47 pm
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Dec 26, 2007
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Lenovo to consider purchasing Blackberry?

Apparently Lenovo signed a Non-disclosure agreement to look at Blackberry's books. Although that's not a commitment of any kind, it certainly is worth noting.

1. Lenovo is not afraid to acquire a company that is struggling, especially one that has a very strong brand -- IBM's division in 2005 and now number in PCs in the world.
2. Lenovo has been acquiring a number of companies around the world, Medion, NEC, EMC, CCE and Stoneware.
3. Yang Yuanqing has committed to the media in the past that he is looking at Cell phone acquisitions
4. Lenovo is like the BORG, assimilate, resistance is futile.
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Sep 24, 2005
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Lenovo never acquired IBM. it acquired IBM's pc business. there's a big difference.
the only strong 'brand' that Lenovo got was 'thinkpad'.

and US won't like the chinese owning BB. they'll find a way to interfere so a chinese company won't buy it.
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Nov 19, 2010
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ippon wrote: Lenovo never acquired IBM. it acquired IBM's pc business. there's a big difference.
+1

Huge difference.
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hahaha and now number in PC's in the world??
you realize IBM created the PC right? IBM was strong well before lenovo came along.
these guys will never go broke as long as they are getting nice royalty checks.
and Lenovo did not buy IBM. they signed an agreement with IBM to acquire IBM's pc business.
it was a business move that was smart for both sides. like an alliance of sorts.
IBM gets to focus on major business while lenovo takes care of PC sales.
think of it as the retail division partner and after sales support solutions provider kind of strategy.
a lot of companies are doing this to survive and ad more value to their base.
look at kinkos and fedex as an example or when wendys and tim hortons had a partnership.

on a side note.
blackberry would fit well with lenovo and ibm.
they already have a strong enterprise and smb division.
and i am sure all those nice blackberry IP patents paired with IBM domino or Lenovo global solutions with IBM would do justice.

lenovo already makes smartphones and has a pretty strong grip with them in enterprise and smb markets in asia and eu.
so seeing the lenovo logo with blackberry powered on something like this... would be perfect. just slap the blackberry logo in the corner.

[IMG]http://www.lenovo.com/images/subseries/ ... t-side.png[/IMG]
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Jan 14, 2013
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Anything is fine as long as Blackberry continues on making new phones with keyboards!!

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they will ruin the brand like they ruined thinkpads....
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Apr 25, 2013
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BB is a white elephant, the Chinese government a 51% shareholder will not let Lenovo buy this dump, since it barely has a following in China, BB is only popular in Indonesia !
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george__ wrote: they will ruin the brand like they ruined thinkpads....
how did they ruin thinkpads?
were every single thinkpad model before Lenovo bought out the pc biz good?
are all current thinkpads crap?

and do you know who were building the thinkpads for IBM when IBM was still selling them?
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Dec 21, 2005
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If Allstream's sale can be blocked due to national security reasons, why would Industry Canada allow Lenovo to buy BB?
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charliebrown wrote: If Allstream's sale can be blocked due to national security reasons, why would Industry Canada allow Lenovo to buy BB?
because they are buying company assets and IP and patents.
not infrastructure or government embedded assets.
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wrong. lenovo is strong in china. and bb added to the company would strengthen lenovo globally as a brand and smartphone manufacturer.
lenovo is going after the patents and the enterprise market they are already strong in thanks to ibm.
lenovo could then now offer not only computers and smartphones but enterprise mail and secure push services that could tie into the existing IBM lotus domino market they are heavily invested in.
EdT586 wrote: BB is a white elephant, the Chinese government a 51% shareholder will not let Lenovo buy this dump, since it barely has a following in China, BB is only popular in Indonesia !
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ippon wrote: how did they ruin thinkpads?
were every single thinkpad model before Lenovo bought out the pc biz good?
are all current thinkpads crap?

and do you know who were building the thinkpads for IBM when IBM was still selling them?
Well they changed things up, some hardcore users don't like it. I personally haven't used any of the 'new' thinkpads so I can't comment on it being better or worse. They key thing was they changed the keyboard to the island style a la MBP, once again I never used it so can't comment. On the T440s they are also changing the buttons you use with the trackpoint, so I could see alot more complaints coming.

People also need to realize that Lenovo brought the entire TP line to a much more affordable level. My trusty T400s for example, was $2500 new, you can now get a top spec T430s for about half of that amount.

IBM was losing money on the TP business, Lenovo is making a profit. higher margins + lower price = compromises and cost cutting, which I am okay with it since it means that:

1. Thinkpads are MUCH more affordable
2. AFAIK the quality hasn't suffered too much, it is still a cut above the rest, I'll take the very small hit for $1000 in spare cash
3. Profitability means that the TP line would live on, instead of going the way of Compaq for example

There are purists who swear by their IBM T61, but I've used my Lenovo T400s for years now (dropped it a few times), and everything still works great (unlike my toshiba, which died on me in 2 years despite being babied a lot more). The keyboard is a dream, the Thinkpad utilities are great, built like tank, and it looks and feels like what a $2000+ laptop should be.
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@ippon

they turned Thinkpads from actual business laptops into consumer grade laptops with business features + improved build quality.

i) they killed off 16:10 aspect ratio
ii) changed the keyboard layout
iii) cheaper keyboard
iv) PLASTIC roll cages
v) EVERYTHING is LED no option for IPS screens

etc etc
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george__ wrote: @ippon

they turned Thinkpads from actual business laptops into consumer grade laptops with business features + improved build quality.

i) they killed off 16:10 aspect ratio
ii) changed the keyboard layout
iii) cheaper keyboard
iv) PLASTIC roll cages
v) EVERYTHING is LED no option for IPS screens

etc etc
i) they killed off 16:10 aspect ratio They still offer 1440x900 no? That's 16:10. They got rid of 1920x1200 though, shame
ii) changed the keyboard layout Yes, kinda peeved about that, but I will withhold judgement until I try it in person
iii) cheaper keyboard Again will reserve judgement until hands on for me
iv) PLASTIC roll cages The 'real' TP line has a metal cage, the cheap ones (Edge for example) have plastic ones. This is more of diluting the brand, as opposed to ruining the T, W, and X series (the real TP line)
v) EVERYTHING is LED no option for IPS screens Some X series have IPS, hopefully they implement it in the T and W series with Haswell, since they are finally increasing the resolution on the T4xx series, I hope they will add this, even if it is optional
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^
The T / W series doesn't have 16:10 resolution any more... The last to offer 16:10 were the successor to the T61 the T400 / T/W 500 series which was probably more IBM than Lenovo.

I have never used X series but supposedly they are still built with high quality in mind

The keyboard technology not just the new layout changed. T61 technology for keyboard was different. My T510 has keyboard flex (I fixed it by installing rubber stuff used on chairs) and it is noticeably quieter than the T61 but my WPM is much faster on the T61
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I have heard from employees inside Waterloo, that Cisco CTO and CEO were visiting a couple weeks ago.
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infamouskid wrote: because they are buying company assets and IP and patents. not infrastructure or government embedded assets.
+1, read that they want to start competing in the US smartphone market. They'll need to own lots of IP to fight off possible lawsuits from all the patent trolls
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aviador wrote: The Canadian government will block the deal due to national security issues. If not, the US government will pressure the Canadian government to block the deal due to US national and industrial espionage risks.
But what about the poor CEO? He won't get his 56M if he can't sell the company, he'll only get his usual 9M compensation!
http://www.businessinsider.com/blackber ... any-2013-8
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Oct 15, 2005
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no way.
lenovo did ibm a huge favor by taking over.
sure some of the parts change. that usually happens as a company evolves.
but the thinkpad is still the best in it's class in terms of industry standards.
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The OP is ridonkulously misinformed about corporate mergers and acquisitions... IBM, NEC, EMC... none of these is a Lenovo company.

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