RIM is looking to stay on even footing with its competitors, so it is reportedly shopping around for an acquisition target in the mobile space, the Wall Street Journal claims. Mobile ad provider Millenial Media has been named as a possible target, although the paper says that talks have stalled over disagreements on a purchase price.

The company believes that competitors Apple and Google overpaid for their own mobile ad acquisitions, so they are not willing to go that same route. Google paid about $750 million for AdMob, while Apple’s acquisition of Quattro Wireless was for an undisclosed sum — although likely in that same neighborhood.

I’m not so sure that buying a mobile ad company is in the best interest of RIM at this point. The company really doesn’t have the money to be playing cat and mouse in the acquisition market with its obviously bigger rivals. And it’s own install base is shrinking as consumers increasingly turn to the Android and iOS platforms.

Shouldn’t RIM be focused on turning the BlackBerry around rather than selling ads on your phone? I think the answer there is pretty easy.

 
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