BlackBerry Cool

This article from Electronista says it all, folks:

Friday, September 26th

RIM has “head in the sand” vs. iPhone

Needham and Company contributed to a steep decline in Research in Motion’s share price today by warning investors that the BlackBerry creator is likely going to perform below expectations in the near future. Analyst Craig Bisagna notes that while RIM is secure in its business sales, Needham sees the company’s dismissive attitude towards competitors in a financial conference call Thursday as overly optimistic and unrealistic.

The iPhone 3G and the HTC-made T-Mobile G1 are likely to boost awareness of smartphones, Bisagna says, but are too directly pitted against the Curve, Pearl and other BlackBerries to avoid competition.

“We continue to believe that the company has its head in the sand,” the researcher says on behalf of Needham. “It’s delusional to think [Apple and HTC] won’t cut into BlackBerry sales as well, especially in the consumer market.”

Bisagna explains that RIM’s recent success has largely relied on the limitations of its competitors rather than any particular strength. Most of the BlackBerry line’s rise has been driven by home users and the Pearl in particular, but for most of this time has only had to compete against unsuccessful Windows Mobile hardware. RIM had the home-oriented smartphone market “pretty much to itself,” he says.

The iPhone was only a non-threat through the absence of full-speed 3G access and a too-high pricing, according to the report. Both have since been taken care of, while the developer appeal of the T-Mobile G1 is also cited as a potential factor. The G1 is also priced inexpensively for its feature set at $179 on certain contracts.

Multiple new BlackBerries due for the fall, such as the Pearl Flip and the touchscreen Storm, are said to potentially help RIM but aren’t guarantees that Apple, HTC, and others won’t affect BlackBerry market share.

The conference call held by RIM followed a mixed but ultimately disappointing summer quarter report from the company, which saw earnings spike but phone shipments fall slightly short of targets set out by investment research groups. The quarter was the first in which RIM had to compete against the iPhone 3G but only saw limited competition as the Apple handset shipped midway through the three-month period.

*yawn*

More Apple fanboy drivel .. how’s your stock doing today?

After the flip, storm and bold launch let’s talk and see how well the iphone is selling.

Why do fanboys think there will be one smartphone in the future and it will be iphone? The market is going to just keep getting larger and whomever is able to service ALL types of users will be market leader (in volume). This is the same as people saying the PS3 owns the Wii .. Wii keeps on selling and RIM will be the same.

Note ending line:

Apple (AAPL) got hit with a pair of downgrades Monday as analysts see a weaker consumer taking a big bite out of the computer-maker’s growth rate.

RBC and Morgan Stanley analysts slapped Apple with neutral ratings, down from buy, on concerns that the slumping economy will put a chill on sales of Mac notebooks and desktop computers.

Citing a IQ/Changewave survey, RBC noted that 40% of consumers questioned said they “plan on spending less on electronics in the next 90 days,” RBC analyst Mike Abramsky wrote in the note. This is the weakest outlook ever measured in these surveys, Abramsky wrote.

Apple shares fell 16% in morning trading Monday in the wake of the reports, as investors get a sobering view of how popular consumer devices can lose momentum in a faltering economy.

The growing credit crisis has helped deflate consumer confidence and force delays in purchases of items like new computers and flat-screen TVs. The problem for Apple, writes Kathryn Huberty in a downgrade of Apple to neutral Monday, is that not only is PC sales growth slowing but the one area shrinking less is the under-$1,000 price range where Apple is absent.

Add the slowdown in PC sales to the higher costs of iPhone production, and Huberty says there will be a dramatic drop in Apple’s profit growth. Huberty cut her Apple earnings growth projection for the year to 6%, well below the 9% analysts’ consensus average.

Apple is not recession proof, RBC’s Abramsky writes.

You mean Monthly Contest, right?

Simon! You’re killing me. Maybe, but this one is a doozy! Free Bluetooth Stereo Gateway!

Simon! You’re killing me. Maybe, but this one is a doozy! Free Bluetooth Stereo Gateway!

Really, I’d prefer slow and steady when it comes to any area of software development. I am so tired to software full of bugs, errors, bad features etc….

Someone has actually started a Campaign to Improve Software
Quality. More people should get involved.

The campaign involves exposing software bugs to the public, so that
software companies and websites are forced to release better software!

You would think that someone here works for Apple the way he praises that “other” phone. Its iPhone this and Apple that. Who cares about them most people that own Blackberries absolutely Love them me included. Not everyone is into the whole touchscreen thing.
We were asked to give our opinion on Rim not try to promote Apple and that other phone.

So IMO RIM is a solid company and like most companies there are ups and downs. RIM and Blackberry are here to stay and they will continue to grab more and more of the pie bit by bit. Slow and steady wins the race.