Rim Shot!

A bit of financial news, not only because it's interesting, but because this company is just down the road from here and a darling of the business community in S. W. Ontario and across Canada for that matter.

Shares of Research In Motion Ltd. are climbing on rumours that the BlackBerry maker may be bought by software giant Microsoft Corp. and it's all because of that cute little blackberry like the one I have sitting on my desk.

"Microsoft has been mentioned as a possible buyer," Frederic Ruffy, an analyst at options education firm Optionetics, said yesterday.

"According to speculation, the software giant might be interested in RIM in response to Google's recent announcement that it is interested in making its own mobile phone operating system, which would compete with Windows Mobile."

Both Waterloo, Ont.-based RIM and Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft declined to comment on the rumours. RIM's current market capitalization is about $50 billion, which would make a purchase of the company expensive.

Microsoft, however, has deep pockets.

Industry analysts have pegged Microsoft at a disadvantage in the cellphone market against its two main rivals, Apple and Google.

Apple entered the mobile market in June with its iPhone, while rumours continue about Google doing the same with a possible announcement as early as next week.

RIM said it added 1.2 million BlackBerry subscribers in the quarter, bringing its total base to more than nine million.

Your "financial whiz kid" scribe;

Allan W Janssen

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God at http://www.god-101.com/