Teh One Who Knocks
01-29-2013, 11:52 AM
By Dan Gallagher, MarketWatch
http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/9810/mwau768heins20120925131.jpg
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — When Research In Motion Ltd. gathers media and investment analysts for its launch of the new BlackBerry 10 platform this week, the Canadian smartphone maker may literally be fighting for its life.
On Wednesday morning in New York City, Research In Motion will officially unveil BlackBerry 10, a new mobile operating system that will power a new family of smartphones designed to put the Waterloo, Ontario-based company back on the competitive map.
The event is expected to include to new handsets — including a full touch-screen design that may represent RIM’s best effort to date to answer the competitive threat posed by the iPhone and other devices.
It is a high-stakes move for RIM, and many analysts consider it the company’s last chance to regain some momentum in the smartphone market that it effectively ruled before the iPhone came on the scene. And the company is throwing heavy resources at marketing the launch — which will include it’s first-ever Super Bowl commercial.
“It’s an ultra competitive market and most consumers have made up their minds on BlackBerry, so we believe RIM really needs to wow the audience,” wrote Mark Sue of RBC Capital Markets in a note to clients on Monday.
Also expected at the event are more details around the launch dates and pricing for the new handsets in North America and other key markets. The company had previously committed to launching the handsets before the end of March.
Investors are already banking on some level of success. RIM’s U.S.-listed shares have been on a tear since the company previewed the BB10 platform at an event in San Jose, Calif., in late September. Even after losing nearly 8% on Monday, as some deal rumors were squashed, the shares are still up nearly 150% since the early fall event.
till, RIM’s current share price of $16.18 is a small fraction of its $60 value at this time two years ago. And even that was less than half of its peak value above $140 in mid-2008 — when Apple launched the iPhone 3G at a $200 price tag and began picking up serious share of the smartphone market.
Handsets using Google’s Android OS began mass shipping the following year as well, and the two platforms have steadily eroded RIM’s share of the smartphone market since.
Much of the recent run-up on the shares has come as pictures of what is purported to be the new BlackBerry handsets were leaked to various gadget blogs. Most recently, a French site called NWE, ran images of what it claimed was the new BlackBerry that will feature a full QWERTY keyboard. Click here to see pictures of new BlackBerry at NWE site.
Now, investors and analysts are divided on the prospects for the company with the new launch. Some think the company has a large enough base of corporate users to launch the platform domestically, while others believe enterprise policies like BYOD (bring your own device) have diminished the BlackBerry’s prospects in this arena.
“While RIM has lost a huge amount of momentum and share, we also believe that the core installed base has been starved for a legitimate upgrade opportunity,” wrote Peter Misek of Jefferies & Co. in a note to clients last week, in which he upgraded RIM to a buy rating.
Jim Suva of Citigroup is less positive on the up-coming launch. Writing to clients last week, Suva said his research indicated that enterprise customers will take at least 4-6 months to test the new platform, with “some likely to offer BB10 hardware as a BYOD option,” meaning employees at those companies wouldn’t necessarily be forced into taking the devices by corporate policies.
“While we acknowledge sentiment to improve as launch date nears and carriers announce support, we remind investors that actual sell through matters to determine the true financial impact that the new OS and hardware will have on the company’s financials, especially in an increasingly competitive environment,” Suva wrote.
In addition to competing against Apple and Samsung, RIM also has to contend with the Windows Phone platform that is backed by Microsoft Corp. and Nokia.
All of these platforms are competing for attention from the application developers they need to make their offerings attractive to consumers, as well as maintain the support of wireless carriers.
“The highly competitive smartphone market will only offer them a short window to do this, and they’ll need to prove themselves in the face of a simultaneous onslaught of marketing from Microsoft, not to mention the continued push from Apple plus Google and its Android partners,” wrote Charles Golvin of Forrester Research in an email Monday. “This is a gargantuan challenge for a company of RIM’s size.”
http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/9810/mwau768heins20120925131.jpg
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — When Research In Motion Ltd. gathers media and investment analysts for its launch of the new BlackBerry 10 platform this week, the Canadian smartphone maker may literally be fighting for its life.
On Wednesday morning in New York City, Research In Motion will officially unveil BlackBerry 10, a new mobile operating system that will power a new family of smartphones designed to put the Waterloo, Ontario-based company back on the competitive map.
The event is expected to include to new handsets — including a full touch-screen design that may represent RIM’s best effort to date to answer the competitive threat posed by the iPhone and other devices.
It is a high-stakes move for RIM, and many analysts consider it the company’s last chance to regain some momentum in the smartphone market that it effectively ruled before the iPhone came on the scene. And the company is throwing heavy resources at marketing the launch — which will include it’s first-ever Super Bowl commercial.
“It’s an ultra competitive market and most consumers have made up their minds on BlackBerry, so we believe RIM really needs to wow the audience,” wrote Mark Sue of RBC Capital Markets in a note to clients on Monday.
Also expected at the event are more details around the launch dates and pricing for the new handsets in North America and other key markets. The company had previously committed to launching the handsets before the end of March.
Investors are already banking on some level of success. RIM’s U.S.-listed shares have been on a tear since the company previewed the BB10 platform at an event in San Jose, Calif., in late September. Even after losing nearly 8% on Monday, as some deal rumors were squashed, the shares are still up nearly 150% since the early fall event.
till, RIM’s current share price of $16.18 is a small fraction of its $60 value at this time two years ago. And even that was less than half of its peak value above $140 in mid-2008 — when Apple launched the iPhone 3G at a $200 price tag and began picking up serious share of the smartphone market.
Handsets using Google’s Android OS began mass shipping the following year as well, and the two platforms have steadily eroded RIM’s share of the smartphone market since.
Much of the recent run-up on the shares has come as pictures of what is purported to be the new BlackBerry handsets were leaked to various gadget blogs. Most recently, a French site called NWE, ran images of what it claimed was the new BlackBerry that will feature a full QWERTY keyboard. Click here to see pictures of new BlackBerry at NWE site.
Now, investors and analysts are divided on the prospects for the company with the new launch. Some think the company has a large enough base of corporate users to launch the platform domestically, while others believe enterprise policies like BYOD (bring your own device) have diminished the BlackBerry’s prospects in this arena.
“While RIM has lost a huge amount of momentum and share, we also believe that the core installed base has been starved for a legitimate upgrade opportunity,” wrote Peter Misek of Jefferies & Co. in a note to clients last week, in which he upgraded RIM to a buy rating.
Jim Suva of Citigroup is less positive on the up-coming launch. Writing to clients last week, Suva said his research indicated that enterprise customers will take at least 4-6 months to test the new platform, with “some likely to offer BB10 hardware as a BYOD option,” meaning employees at those companies wouldn’t necessarily be forced into taking the devices by corporate policies.
“While we acknowledge sentiment to improve as launch date nears and carriers announce support, we remind investors that actual sell through matters to determine the true financial impact that the new OS and hardware will have on the company’s financials, especially in an increasingly competitive environment,” Suva wrote.
In addition to competing against Apple and Samsung, RIM also has to contend with the Windows Phone platform that is backed by Microsoft Corp. and Nokia.
All of these platforms are competing for attention from the application developers they need to make their offerings attractive to consumers, as well as maintain the support of wireless carriers.
“The highly competitive smartphone market will only offer them a short window to do this, and they’ll need to prove themselves in the face of a simultaneous onslaught of marketing from Microsoft, not to mention the continued push from Apple plus Google and its Android partners,” wrote Charles Golvin of Forrester Research in an email Monday. “This is a gargantuan challenge for a company of RIM’s size.”