收購黑莓有什么好處？

????谷歌（Google）、蘋果（Apple）和微軟（Microsoft）這三大巨頭，不管誰能收購一度如日中天、如今卻落花流水的黑莓手機（Blackberry），誰就能借此如虎添翼。雖然黑莓的銷量早已跌入低谷，市場也一蹶不振，但我們不能忘了它還有一個強大的安全數據網絡、許多忠誠的企業客戶、以及大量有價值的專利，因此它對于一個戰略收購者而言是一筆極劃算的交易。不僅如此，由于收購者或許可以通過尚未被美國政府課稅的海外收益來收購黑莓，因此這筆交易還會給收購者帶來一些相當劃算的稅務優勢。

????黑莓在移動市場上的失利已經給股東造成了重大的損失。2008年的時候，作為智能手機行業的先驅，黑莓的市值曾高達840億美元，控制了智能手機市場五成以上的份額。而五年后，這家公司的市值已經縮水到了上周的48億美元，市場份額也暴跌到可憐的3%。

????過去這五年里，黑莓走了很多彎路。簡而言之，黑莓錯在沒有及時開發出讓消費者輕松快捷上網的定制應用。而且黑莓花了好幾年的時間才推出一塊真正好用的、以消費者體驗為中心的觸摸屏和一個還算合格的操作系統。

????黑莓在今年年初推出了全新的“黑莓10”系列智能手機和操作系統，這是公司新管理層上臺后，為了重返消費者市場而邁出的勇敢的一步。黑莓10手機即便與市面上的其它高端手機相比也不遑多讓，而且系統也很流暢，相對來說比較好用。但是無論如何，公司僅憑黑莓10已經無力扭轉大局。它的影響力太小，來得也太晚了。消費者已經被鎖定在了蘋果、谷歌或是微軟的移動平臺上。要想從其它平臺回到黑莓的平臺上會導致昂貴的換機成本，很多消費者都過不了這一關。

????本周一，黑莓正式宣布成立了一個特別委員會，尋求其它戰略性的替代方案，以“提高公司的價值和規模，加速黑莓10的部署”。黑莓表示，它會考慮任何替代方案，包括“可能建立合資企業、戰略合作伙伴關系或結盟，甚至將公司出售，或其它可能的交易?！眧

????目前，走私有化道路不會給黑莓帶來任何好處。如果在幾年前或是在杠桿收購正流行的時候走私有化，可能還會好一些，但是絕不是今天。當然，等公司私有化之后再進行切割或出售是比較容易的，但是黑莓的資金是逐漸減值的，先私有化再談判需要花的時間太長了，等到那時，黑莓10又成了“老人機”，公司屆時可能已經燒干了它的31億美元現金，卻什么也沒有得到。把黑莓賣給戰略競爭對手的時間就是現在，而不是以后。

????現在蘋果、谷歌、微軟這三大運營商都在為了爭奪智能手機市場的最后一點份額而鏖戰，無論黑莓花落誰家，都會增強競爭優勢。比如iPhone的iMessage功能可以讓用戶免費發送短信給其它iPhone用戶，事實證明，它簡單有效地把很多客戶鎖定在了iOS平臺上。無論是谷歌的Android還是微軟的WP平臺暫時都沒有能和它抗衡的對手，只是有傳言說這兩大平臺都在研發類似的產品。而黑莓的BBM系統的功能與iMessage相差無幾，而且在某些地區還極為流行，其中既包括英國這樣的國家，也包括海地這樣的第三世界國家。如果谷歌和微軟把BBM融合到他們的平臺上，那么他們就有實力在免費短信市場上與蘋果分庭抗禮，同時也會給他們帶來全球各地的大量忠誠客戶，而且他們還可能會把這個平臺介紹給其他用戶。光是這一項，就可能給谷歌或微軟帶來幾十億美元的未來收益。

????One of the "Big Three" mobile computing giants – Google, Apple or Microsoft - could win big by picking up a loser: the once great BlackBerry. Despite its poor sales and sad marketing, BlackBerry (BBRY) actually has a great deal to offer a strategic acquirer with its secure data network, loyal corporate clientele and slew of valuable patents. But that's not all. Such a deal also offers some sweet tax advantages for the Big Three as Blackberry could possibly be paid for using foreign earnings that have yet to be taxed by U.S. authorities.

????BlackBerry's failure to admit defeat has come at a great cost to its shareholders. In 2008, the mobile pioneer had a market value topping $84 billion and commanded more than 50% of the smartphone market. Five years later, the company's market value, as of the close of last week, came in at $4.8 billion, while its share of the smartphone market had fallen to a pathetic 3%.

????The company made many missteps during that time, but, in a nutshell, BlackBerry missed the boat when it came to developing bespoke applications that made using the mobile web easier and faster for consumers. It also took years to offer a truly usable consumer-focused touch screen with a decent operating system.

????The unveiling of the "BlackBerry 10" series smartphones and operating system earlier this year were valiant attempts by the company's new management to reenter the consumer market. The phones were comparable to other high-end phones on the market, and the operating system was smooth and relatively easy to use. But the 10 wasn't a game changer in any sense of the word and was simply too little too late. Consumers had already been locked into either Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG) or Microsoft's (MSFT) operating platforms. Moving from one of the other platforms back to BlackBerry would have entailed large switching costs, which ultimately proved too high of a hurdle for consumers to leap over.

????On Monday Blackberry formally announced that it had formed a special committee to explore strategic alternatives that would "enhance value and increase scale in order to accelerate BlackBerry 10 deployment." The company said it was open to all alternatives, including "possible joint ventures, strategic partnerships or alliances, a sale of the Company or other possible transactions."

????Going private doesn't really offer Blackberry any real advantages at this point. It would have been better to do so a couple years ago or during the leverage buy-out boom, but not today. Sure, it is easier to chop up and sell the company while it is private, but Blackberry's assets have a degrading shelf life. The time it would take to rustle up all the offers and to go private and then to negotiate deals is too long of a time table. The 10 series would look ancient by then and the company would have burned up more of its $3.1 billion cash pile for nothing. The time to sell BlackBerry to a strategic competitor is now, not tomorrow.

????Apple, Google and Microsoft could each leverage Blackberry's platform to make them more competitive as the three companies wrestle for the last bits of the smartphone market. For example, the iPhone's iMessage feature, which allows users to send free text messages to other iPhone users, has been an easy and cost effective way for Apple to lock people into its network. There is really no universal equivalent of iMessage on Google's Android operating platform or Microsoft's Window's platform, yet, despite rumors that they both were developing such a system. Blackberry's BBM system is similar to iMessage and is extremely popular in places as diverse as the United Kingdom and Haiti. Incorporation of BBM into their platforms would not only put Google and Microsoft on equal footing with Apple in the free text market, but it would also give them a built-in set of consumers from around the globe who can help spread their platform to other users. That alone could be worth billions of dollars of future revenue down the line.