Oracle decided not to buy BlackBerry or Palm, denies the world Ellison helmed webOracleBerry

By Rene Ritchie
last updated

Oracle, the 2 ton mutant gorilla of enterprise data software, once considered buying BlackBerry or Palm in order to take on Apple's iPhone and Google's Android in the smartphone space. No. Seriously. Unfortunately, Oracle CEO -- and former Apple board member and long-time Steve Jobs friend -- Larry Ellison decided against it. I say unfortunately because, while I can't imagine Oracle achieving anything inspired with either BlackBerry or Palm, it would have been incredibly interesting to watch them try. Gary Busey on Celebrity Apprentice interesting.

If the future really is mobile, right now only Apple and Google are positioned to own that future (though Android's open source nature means there could end up being hundreds of Android forks from the likes of Amazon, carriers, even Oracle itself).

BlackBerry was even later to the modern mobile party than Microsoft, and Microsoft was plenty late. HP and their brutally incompetent board of directors squandered what could have been a brilliant future for webOS.

But oh, the insanity that could ha

Source: Reuters via CrackBerry

Rene Ritchie
Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.

8 Comments
  • Yes, many of us mourn the potential of webOS...now if only Apple could incorporate the strengths of webOS!
  • That's a hot looking PlayBook! BB10 is going to be one amazing platform. Can't wait to go back to BlackBerry. I miss BBM!!!!!
  • Me too!! It's been a hard 2 months without it :(
  • why? maybe i don't understand bbm but why is it special? What is it? I've never heard someone tell me i need bbm or that uses it. What is it that i'm not getting?
  • nevermind. its just an instant messenger? maybe that's why. I stopped iming quite a few years ago. maybe that's people i know don't mention it.
  • forks huh? not if they merge in the updates of future versions of android to maintain app compatibility and performance upgrades..
  • Then it would still be far from the android you know and love.
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