I don't really see Microsoft buying RIM. If they did, I think it would only lead to the death of the Blackberry, so it would just be another huge money pit for MS. It would probably be a good idea, for the reasons Dan mentioned, but that's also why I don't see it happening. MS are too Windows-centric, I'm sure their toilet paper is covered in WIndows logos. I can't see them doing with RIM anything much different than they did with the Sidekick, that is, redeploying it with a new OS.

MS would be better off abandoning the NT kernel and everything in its current iterations of Windows and going at it with something new and fresh. That's the path they need to take if they really want to copy Apple. Not buying up hundreds of Macs to study its UI for ideas to toss into Windows as eye-candy.

It was obvious to everyone that not even teens were going to go for the Kin, since most of them had also long ago abandoned the Sidekick for iPhone, Android or Blackberry. And no one, even someone not in their right mind, is going to give up one of those for a Kin.