08 August, 2011
category: NFC
Google looks poised for an acquisition of BlackBerry smart phone manufacturer Research In Motion (RIM), according to Anton Wahlman, a former telecom stock analyst with UBS, Needham & Co., and ThinkEquity.
The deal, which Whalman says has a 50-50 shot at happening, would give Google access to RIM’s celebrated security technology in order to better protect NFC transactions on its forthcoming Google Wallet service.
Moreover, both RIM and Google are rumored to be using Texas Instruments technology to power their new operating systems (“QNX” and Android 4.0, aka “Ice Cream Sandwich,” respectively), meaning Android and BlackBerry will essentially be on the same platform by the end of 2012, says Wahlman.
A third reason for the deal is that Google, who has shown an interest in patent stockpiling, may want to get its hands on RIM’s numerous protocol stack patents.
Wahlman says there are other potential buyers out there, chief among them Microsoft, but Google is in position to benefit most from the acquisition.
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