As a Canadian, I feel bad that RIM is circling the drain, It is, after all, supposed to be one of Canada’s premier tech companies.  But on the other hand, the company is responsible for its own troubles, so I’m reminding myself not to be too sympathetic.

However, following a post on Bloomberg there has been a lot of talk about how Microsoft should pony up the bucks and snap up RIM at what is really nothing more than a fire sale price. Part of the reasoning is that they are already partnered with Nokia and that this would somehow solidify their position in the enterprise market.

Really? How so?

The Nokia deal makes sense because of the company’s still-valuable global reach. RIM, on the other hand, seems to be losing the enterprise market to just about any smartphone handset maker.

Then there is the thing with the OS behind the smartphones.

The only reason Microsoft would consider this is for the immediate gain of getting yet another “brand” smartphone on the market with Windows Phone powering it.

The problem is that there is only one RIM handset that the Windows Phone OS could run on properly, that being the new Torch. The rest of the handsets don’t suit running the Windows Phone UI, and without a lot of re-engineering probably never would.

That makes for an awfully expensive acquisition.

For all the heat that Microsoft took, (and still is to a certain extent) over the deal with Nokia, it amazes me that the tech punditry is suggesting that the outright purchase of RIM, and its ever-dwindling market share is a good idea for Microsoft.

So please, someone  explain to me how in any way the purchase of RIM by Microsoft makes any sense; because from where I am sitting, I’m just not seeing it.

[Cross-posted at Winextra]