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Amazon considered buying RIM this summer

Amazon considered buying RIM this summer

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According to Reuters sources, Amazon looked into a purchase of RIM this summer. Amazon hired an investment bank to review a possible merger, but never made a formal offer. Apparently RIM turned down Amazon before talks could get too heated, and has turned down other offers as well.

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Kindle Fire
Kindle Fire

According to Reuters sources, Amazon looked into a purchase of RIM this summer. Amazon hired an investment bank to review a possible merger, but never made a formal offer. The details are muddy, but apparently RIM turned down Amazon before talks could get too heated, and has turned down other offers as well, with the board preferring to use existing internal assets, like BBM, and perhaps some restructuring (and of course, new phones) to turn the company around. The fun little twist here, of course, is that Amazon's Kindle Fire uses near-identical hardware to RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook, but is already enjoying vastly more success on the market. Apparently the companies are still chatting, looking for ways to increase ties, which makes sense in a rapidly crowding tablet market. RIM is in a tough place, with a plunging share price, and an unclear platform future, which makes it hard to get a truly attractive, can't-refuse offer, even though Wall Street types have tried to get Samsung and HTC to bite as well, says Reuters.