Blueberry on the RIM?

[Tom]

RIM, the maker of the Blackberry (I never understood the herd mentality over this product), has changed their name to Blackberry. They fell from grace (aka fell of a cliff), and are now betting the farm on a couple of new smartphones in a crowded market dominated by others. I doubt they'll get the 10% market share they say they need to survive.

Maybe they should have changed the company name to Blueberry or RIP  ???

 

[99WinAdventurer37G]

Yes, Rim was a great short.  I've talked to many friends that used to be Blackberry users, they say they're not going back.  Now they are either Apple, or Android users. 

The Apple crowd is the crowd I've never understood.  They get upset if their shirts are made in a sweat shop by 5 year olds, but don't care if their Apple product is made by them.  Nor do they care about the App problems.  I think Apple could see an I-turd, and people would stand in line to buy it, then flock to the I-store, to refill it with I-smell.  ;D

Why this stock has taken such a hit is another mystery.  It's loaded with cash and it's dropped over $200 a share!  I can't help but pick up a couple of call options.  I don't believe the herd is dying off, I'm thinking they're just napping.  They'll be back to the well for a drink. 

 

[Hfx_Cdn]

    For the sake of our Canadian economy, I hope you are wrong Tom.  Don't forget that RIM had the market to itself, and through corporate arrogance let others innovate themselves into stronger market shares.  It is not dis-similar to the GM experience in the car world.  New upper management, lots of R&D, and a whole bunch of finger crossing.  They do make a good product that still has many advantages, and some dis-advantages.
  As for the Stock Price, that never seems to represent how well the product performs, it get manipulated by the speculators.

Ed

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

I will be much surprised if they can recover. The new phones are pretty good, but the market is full of great smart phones.

 

[Tom]

Aye, it's a familiar story Ed. I recall all too well the UK motorcycle industry in the 60's; Everone laughed at Japanese offerings that lost every race at the Isle Of Man TT races. The following year they won every race, and pretty soon had the lion's share of the market. Japanese consumer electronics weren't far behind.

 

[Gord N.]

>> For the sake of our Canadian economy, I hope you are wrong Tom. <<

It is not so much the Canadian economy I worry about.  It is stronger than most, but I would hate to see a great product fall off the map. (I,m not a Blackberry user...I use an iPhone(ugh!).  However, Blackberry is the phone of choice in much of Asia and Europe, and was (and may still be) the choice of most Government Depts in the US and Canada.  The strength of Blackberry has long been its isolation of email to servers run by the Company itself, and not out there in the general email world.  I haven't heard of that changing, even in the US and Canada but if these two new products don't meet the same level of service as before, then they may never reach a respectable share of the market. 

Gotta' give a shoutout though for a Canuck business that set trends before Android ever existed!

Gord