Postcards to BB, Dell, and HP, and Amazon, and Cerberus

I have to stop sending these silly postcards with even sillier ideas.

And I would have not sent any postcard to Cerberus but I liked what its CEO and co-founder Steve Feinberg once said: "In general, I think that all of us are way overpaid in this business. It is almost embarrassing."

I was about to contact Lenovo as well, but after I read they had a smartphone called ... LePhone that is doing very well (2nd in China) I thought they would not be interested in BB, but it seems I was wrong (not that it matters anyhow) Lenovo may be eyeing BlackBerry as well.


So these are my silly ideas (not all of them fit on the back of the postcard):

1. Upgrade Z30 to come with Linux/Windows that will be used when a device (display + keyboard) is plugged to the phone.

'The notebook is dead, long live the notebook!'

2. Buy www.britannica.com and provide free access to anyone with a BB device (Wikipedia is the 6th most visited website, so you can see what I am getting at).

3. License BB10 to Chinese/Indian companies that can sell only to the respective markets (lose 2 billion customers but can you imagine the 'stampede' to create apps for BB10, no more of 'there aren't apps for BlackBerry')

4. Make the cheapest e-reader that works with only BB.  No charger, no big storage, after all you can read only one book at a given tim, and other no's just to make it as cheap as possible.

5. Other sillier ideas that I cannot bring myself writing them.

Here are real ideas: The Future of BlackBerry is RIM

Dear Mr. Dell,

Your company should buy BlackBerry and:
1. Upgrade Z30 to come with Linux/Windows that will be used when a device (display + keyboard) is plugged to the phone.
'The notebook is dead, long live the notebook!'
2. Dell to buy www.britannica.com and provide free access to anyone with a BB device (Wikipedia is the 6th most visited website, so you can see what I am getting at).
3. a few other ideas no space here
Mike (disgruntled BB investor that thinks BB is worth much more)
@curbexcitement

Dear Mr. Ali,

HP should buy BlackBerry and:
1. Release a new phone that will have Linux/Windows installed to be used when a 'device' (display + keyboard) is plugged to the phone.
'The notebook is dead, long live the notebook!'
2. HP to buy www.britannica.com and provide free access to anyone with a BB device (Wikipedia is the 6th most visited website, so you can see what I am getting at).
3. other ideas, but no space here

Regards,
Mike (disgruntled BB investor that thinks BB is worth much more)
Twitter:@curbexcitement

Dear Mr. Feinberg,

Cerberus should buy BlackBerry and:
1. Upgrade Z30 to come with Linux/Windows that will be used when a device (display + keyboard) is plugged to the phone.
'The notebook is dead, long live the notebook!'
2. Cerberus to buy www.britannica.com and provide free access to anyone with a BB device (Wikipedia is the 6th most visited website, so you can see what I am getting at).
3. a few other silly ideas but not enough space here
Regards,
Mike (disgruntled BB investor that thinks BB is worth much more)

Twitter: @curbexcitement

Google Closes $1,011.41 +122.61 (13.80%) on Friday 18 Oct

I remember the day I bought Google on borrowed money. I had read the week before how Google allowed employees to dedicate 15% of their time to personal projects and I was impressed. I must invest in this company I said so I cashed some Visa cheques (special offer 3.5% interest for 6 months). I could not wait the week-end to be over and on Monday I was up at 6 AM PST. I thought the exchange would open at 9 as I had in my mind, from some movie, the image of the opening bell rung at that time. But the exchange opened at 9:30. Anyway I bought 5 shares at around $700 (it was Nov. 2007). Almost right away the stock started its descent. I didn't care, as I considered myself the buy and hold investor, and I had high hopes in the rumored Google mobile phone. However, the mobile phone turned to be only a mobile phone operating system (the Android) so after a while I no longer could stomach its downward march. I sold the stock at around $500.

I was taken by the hype and bought Facebook shares at its IPO (around $40). It was my first IPO purchase so I had to take it down :). At some point the stock reached $20 and I was highly tempted to double my position but I remembered the sage of Omaha's rules:
Rule no.1: Never lose money.
Rule no.2: Never forget rule No.1.
He did not say: Make up the lost money.
So I did not buy any FB shares.
And a few weeks ago the stock went above $40, sold half of it at $43 and the other half at $50. I had a feeling the stock would go higher (it closed on Friday 18 Oct at $54) but I did not want to take any chances.
Once bitten, more than twice shy! I still have the mental scars of 2008.

I am quite curious what would happen to Apple Single-Handedly Stopped Apple!