The voice of the BlackBerry community.
Jim Balsillie, RIM’s co-CEO will speak at the RBC Capital Markets Communications, Media and Technology Conference in Toronto, ON on Thursday, November 13, 2008. Balsillie’s presentation begins 11:00 a.m. EST, and will be available via live audio webcast on RIM’s website (link below). For those who can’t make it or tune in, a replay of the event will also be available on the website for two weeks following the event.
Jim Balsillie Presentation Webcast
The BlackBerry Partners Fund was announced back at WES, and humming along quietly in the background, chatting with some 1,5000 hungry, young developers who wanted some of that $150 million investment fund.
[Kevin Talbot, RBC vice president and co-manager of the BlackBerry Partners Fund] says the unexpectedly large response from developers to the fund threw operations out of gear but says it is now back on track. ‘Since the fund was announced, we have been deluged with opportunities,’ he says. ‘We have lagged a little bit behind because of that.’
Progress is being made, as they will soon be announcing the first three to four companies to get $2-$5 million infusions. A new site will be launched on August 15th. to better inform interested parties about the opportunity and how to apply. With the iPhone App Store now in full swing, Apple’s $100M iFund is looking all the juicier to mobile developers, but there’s one thing that the BlackBerry Partners Fund has that iFund doesn’t – platform agnosticism. That’s right, you don’t have to develop for BlackBerry to get in on the fund, it just has to be mobile software. RIM is staying out of the decision-making process altogether, and leaving it to RBC and JLA to handle the meat and potatoes of the operation. Of course, if you’re chosen, RIM’s throwing in BlackBerry Alliance membership, which makes working on the platform all the easier. One of the partners had a great guest post on BerryReview that’s worth a read if you’re seriously interested in the fund. Keep an eye on www.blackberrypartnersfund.com for the big update.
(via TheStreet)
So, we listened in on the talk from Edel Ebbs, RIM’s VP of Investor Relations at the RBC Technology, Media and Communications Conference today, and she had a few interesting things to say regarding the expanding consumer segment, the importance of fixed-mobile convergence, and future drivers for growth. The majority of sales still rely on hardware, but software and services revenue definitely helps. Edel went on to talk about RIM’s growing branding strategy, which we can see today in their latest advertisements showing off the BlackBerry device as an all-encompassing lifestyle choice, and is just the beginning of a bigger push in the last half of the year. That’s of course a good segue way into their consumer push…
If you’d like to hear the conference talk for yourself, head on over to RIM’s investor relations site…
…otherwise, peek under the jump for the run-down.
Edel Ebbs, VP of investor relations at RIM, will be talking at the RBC Technology, Media and Communications Conference in San Francisco tomorrow at 11:30 PST. After a significant build-up for the Bold and lots of other devices in the woodwork, it might be worthwhile to hear right from the horse’s mouth what all the progress means for shareholders. If it’s something you want to talk a listen in on, you can check out the webcast right over here.
According to the latest RBC Capital Markets report, 56% of consumers looking to pick up a smartphone in the next three months having the iPhone 3G at the top of their list, with the BlackBerry Bold following up at 23%. Ouch. So does this mean the iPhone’s features are wowing buyers? Not quite. The biggest factor influencing these decisions is the announced price cut of $199 on the 8 GB model and $299 for the 16 GB iPhone 3G. The extra speed from 3G was a close second point of interest, while GPS was the third most important factor. It’s bizzarre, considering the BlackBerry 9000 will be covering all of these bases, too – T-Mobile Germany’s price point for the Bold has been revealed, putting it in the same ballpark as the iPhone. Maybe if we had clearer information on BlackBerry Bold pricing, folks would be more inclined to consider it a competitor to the iPhone…
We already know RIM’s brand growth has been ungodly, but it couldn’t quite oust Apple’s King-of-the-Hill status. If we’re sticking to Canada though, BlackBerry is ruling the roost according to a study by Interbrand, with a brand value of $5,607.6 million. So not only is RIM topping the Toronto Stock Exchange, but they’re also the most recognizable Canadian company out there. Appropriately enough, the Royal Bank of Canada, previously numero uno on the stock exchange is also number two on the brand rankings. Check out the whole report here to check out the other big names in Canada.
Whew, this maybe isn’t as sexy as a new device release, but this might just be bigger news over the long term. RIM today (tonight? This morning? Man, am I not going to enjoy my flight…) announced a joint initiative to create a fund investing in mobile applications and services. Here’s what RIM co-CEO, Jim Balsillie, had to say:
"The mobile world has evolved well beyond phone calls and simple messaging to require more empowering and liberating solutions that connect people to everything that matters most to them, wherever and whenever they want,” said Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO, Research In Motion. “RIM, RBC and Thomson Reuters share the common belief that mobile applications and services will propel the industry forward and the BlackBerry Partners Fund is being formed to help fuel innovation and activity in the mobile ecosystem."
Translation? ‘Oh man, we’ve been talking about moving beyond email for years now, but if we don’t invest more in our partners to maintain BlackBerry as a viable enterprise and consumer platform, Apple is going to eat our shorts.’ Still, $150 million is nothing to sneeze at; hey RIM, where do we sign up? www.blackberrypartnersfund.com? Sweet!
The RBC, or Royal Bank of Canada, has launched a new mobile site for their customers. A completely stripped down home page allows you to access your online banking with all the features that entails, the main RBC site, and their terms and conditions. For those Canadians banking from the Quebec side, it even has a French version. Last year RIM overtook RBC as the largest Canadian company out there. I guess if you can’t beat ‘em, might as well join ‘em.
RIM’s stock hit a wooping $137.01 yesterday, marking a new peak for our buddies in Waterloo. A big part of the rally could be attributed to Credit Suisse for upgraded their old neutral rating and RBC Capital Markets for bumping their target price up to $180 from $120. You know, we’d love to do more stock news, but seems like every time we check out the ticker, it’s nothing beyond “yep, RIM’s doing awesome”. C’mon RIM, give us poor bloggers something catastrophic to work with, here. As of this morning, RIMM sits at $130.50.
UPDATE: RIM’s stock seems to be taking a pretty hefty drop today, despite the high yesterday. It’s down to 117.08… I guess this is the dive I was asking for, huh?
Well, the stock rush from yesterday has earned RIM status as Canada’s biggest company by market share value. The Royal Bank of Canada used to hold the spot as top dog on the Toronto Stock Exchange, but after falling to $53.58, RIM’s 1.1% climb was enough to make it king of the hill. Tech hasn’t been this big since Nortel, back in the heady days of 2000, and as both a Canadian and tech enthusiast that’s some pretty good news. Now we just have to wait and see if the Chinese release of BlackBerrys which spurred the rally was worth all the hype. It’s hard to imagine BlackBerry doing poorly over there, but you never know…
The voice of the BlackBerry community.
