You can add one more to the list of suitors who were at one point interested in buying Research In Motion. At the trial between between Oracle and Google over Java patents used in Android. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison revealed that the company entertained the thought of entering the smartphone business. “I had the idea we could enter the smartphone business and compete,” said Ellison.
Realizing that it lacked the in-house expertise, it decided to look at an acquisition. It considered buying both Research In Motion and Palm. The former turned out to be too expensive at the time and the latter was scooped up by Hewlett-Packard.
In the end, Oracle decided that it would be a “bad idea” to try and compete with Apple and Google.
The latest rumours suggest that Microsoft could invest US$3.5 billion in RIM. Past rumours also suggested that Samsung (which it denied), Nokia and even Amazon considered buying RIM
Read more: Reuters and Mercury News