SAP Doesn't Want To Buy BlackBerry But That Wouldn't Have Been A Bad Idea
SAP was one of a handful of big tech companies sniffing around, with others being Cisco and Google, sources told Reuters.
But in an interview with German magazine, Euro am Sonntag, SAP Chief Financial Officer Werner Brandt, said, "BlackBerry doesn't fit into our strategy."
An acquisition by SAP wouldn't have been that farfetched of an idea because a lot of enterprises like a BlackBerry product called Blackberry Enterprise. It helps enterprises secure fleets of fleets of smartphones owned the company and employees. SAP is already in this market, with a software product called Afaria.
Then there's the surprise hit app Blackberry Messenger, which lets users chat securely across different phones including iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry. The company said that in the first week since making it available for iPhone and Android, 20 million new users signed up for it, giving 80 million users, including the ones using it on BlackBerry.
SAP is really trying to increase its visibility with mobile consumer apps. But of course, if it really wanted to buy chat users, it could make a play for WhatsApp, which last week announced that it had 350 million users, reports BGR's Zach Epstein.
In any case, a SAP/BlackBerry hookup is not going to happen. So BlackBerry seems to be still shopping for a new home, even reportedly asking Facebook to buy it.