Look, as much as I may like to goad my fellow writers around here that the iPhone is kicking the snot out of Windows Mobile – reality is Microsoft only has a couple real competitors in the business market and Apple is not one of them. But RIM (the undisputed king of email) could in theory be taken out, not by some catastrophic meltdown causing downtime in their data centers, but by catastrophic meltdown in the housing markets. Never would have seen that one coming!

With all the turbulence in the American financial markets, the mass layoffs, the mass business failures, and all the other things remaining to be seen, RIMM’s market value has taken a serious turn for the bottom of the pool with its current stock value at almost 1/3rd of the year’s high value of just over $148/share.

Rumors of Microsoft’s interest in Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM have swirled in the past, but no deal has ever materialized. A marriage of the two companies would bring together two of the best-known high-tech names in the world and give Microsoft a formidable wireless-handset presence through access to RIM’s roughly 20 million BlackBerry subscribers.

Brandon’s Feeble Minded Take

Reality is this isn’t likely to happen. I can’t for one see Microsoft admitting defeat in the business market by purchasing RIM. And yes, it would be defeat – simple because if Microsoft can’t beat someone in a product line, history has proven they either steal it or buy it. I also can’t see RIM letting this happen, nor the fed, nor a billion other entities.

But, would I like to see it? Yes. Definitely. I would love to see Microsoft pick up RIM and bring some of the email-centric qualities of the RIM devices into their fold, like the near “dummy-proof” setup of accounts. I would also love to see it happen on the chance that adding the RIM engineers to the WinMo group would hasten a change in direction for WinMo. I think we all can agree that the slogan “more of the same” can’t be attached to the next version of WinMo – and the purchase of RIM might be just what the doctor ordered.

(via billions of blogs pointing to Reuters)