Wireless/Research in Motion

No Penguins but Hot Pearl Sales

By Mark Evans in Main Page, Wireless/Research in Motion No Comments

Sadly, Jim Balsillie will not find Sidney Crosby or the Pittsburgh Penguins under the tree on Christmas morning but he can console himself that sales of the Blackberry Pearl are propelling Research in Motion’s sales these days. In the fiscal third-quarter, the company sold 875,000 Blackberrys – 10% higher than management expected – and sales could be close to one million in fiscal fourth-quarter. As for the latest in the “As the Penguins Turn” soap opera, hockey legend Mario Lemieux has pulled the team off the market, while the Globe & Mail reports Balsillie held talks with the NHL earlier this year about moving the franchise to Hamilton, Ont. Meanwhile, Red Herring has a story on why the Pearl has rocked while Palm’s Treo has struggled.

Technorati Tags: ,

No Deposit for You, Mr. Balsillie

By Mark Evans in M&A, Main Page, Wireless/Research in Motion 4 Comments

Hockey legend and Pittsburgh Penguins owner Mario Lemieux is “shocked and offended” that billionaire and RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie pulled his $175-million bid last week to buy the NHL franchise. Mario’s so pissed he plans on keeping Balsillie’s $10-million deposit because the bid withdrawal constitutes a breach of contract. Wow, $10-million – that’s like 50,000 Blackberry Pearls or more than 400,000 times more than the $2.40 deposit I leave with Beer Store if I buy a 24 of my favourite suds.

The Power of Paper & Pen

By Mark Evans in Main Page, Uncategorized, Wireless/Research in Motion 4 Comments

For all my love of computers (especially my new MacBook!), I remain a devoted user of pen an paper. As a reporter, I probably used 10s of thousands of paper to take notes – an exercise that saw me developed my own unique form of shorthand. Even today, I find pen and paper indispensable, and feel naked if I walk out of the house with them. It’s something continues to amuse colleagues, who rely on Palms, Blackberrys and cell phones to take notes. The way I see it, pen and paper are elegant, traditional, unobtrusive. if you pull out pen and paper during an interview or at lunch/dinner, it suggests you’re interested enough in what someone has said that you want to mark it down. Pulling out a Blackberry suggests you want to check your e-mail (even if you’re just taking a note). One of the best pen and paper suggestions I’ve come across is from 43Folders.com, which had a post called the Hipster PDA that talked about using 3″ x 5″ index cards. Brilliant. (Hat tip for this post to Om Malik, who recently spent nearly four hours at a cafe with pen and paper writing out a huge to-do list!)

Technorati Tags: ,

Dream On, You Canadian Entrepreneurs

By Mark Evans in Main Page, Media, Wireless/Research in Motion 4 Comments

Blackberry
The dreams of two high-profile Canadian entrepreneurs appeared to have taken divergent paths. Jim Balsillie, co-CEO with Research in Motion, has walked away from a $175-million offer to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins (and hockey phenoms Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin Eugeny Malkom) – apparently due to the National Hockey League’s refusal to provide him with any kind of flexibility to move the franchise. It must have been a difficult decision for Balsillie, who’s a passionate hockey fan and pick-up player (note: I wonder if he’s allowed to bring his Blackberry on the bench?)
Meanwhile, John Bitove (one-time part owner of the Toronto Raptors) is trying to become the Mark Cuban of Canada with the launch of HDTV Networks, which aims to be Canada’s first high-definition TV network. In applying for a license, Bitove plans to offer free, over-the-air broadcasts. Bitove has a few bucks lying around after taking Canadian Satellite Radio (aka XM Canada) public last year – a move that was a major, major financial home run. Bitove, however, may find HD a tougher nut to crack given there doesn’t appear to be a lot of momentum/consumer adoption despite all the buzz. Maybe it’s a programming issue; maybe cablecos are simply charging too much for the “right” to watch HD.

Technorati Tags: , ,

The Pearl is Rockin'

By Mark Evans in Main Page, Wireless/Research in Motion No Comments

Merrill Lynch analyst Vivek Ayra has seen the light about the Blackberry Pearl. Based on strong-than-expected demand for the Pearl, Ayra has bumped up his 12-month target price on RIM to US$165 from US$135. His bullishness is based the imminent launch of a Cingular Pearl; a huge opportunity in Western Europe where smartphone sales are expected to grow 38% a year until 2010; low-cost monthly data plans such as T-Mobile's $19.99 all-you-can-eat package (Boy, it would sure be great to see those kind of deals in Canada but it's unlikely given how our wireless carriers have embraced “disciplined growth”); and the launch of new Pearl “siblings” such as the Indigo and Crimson, which will feature QWERTY keyboards (which is what will make me jump into a Pearl). 
    Speaking of smartphone growth, In-Stat has a new reported that shows unit sales nearly tripled from 2004 to 2005, and jumped by 50% during the first half of 2006. That said, In-Stat analyst Bill Hughes said there is reason for caution. “Many smartphone users continue to carry the very devices that smartphones are meant to replace. Also, users have been slow to add new applications to their devices. Most users have only downloaded a few applications.” Tags: , , , ,

What's Happening with the "Q"?

By Mark Evans in M&A, Main Page, Wireless, Wireless/Research in Motion No Comments

What does Motorola's purchase of Good Technology mean? Does it suggest the consolidation of the mobile e-mail market is picking up steam? Will HP make a play for Seven Networks now that Good and Intellisync (Nokia) have been snapped up? Does this finally mean Research in Motion will see some real competition after owning the mobile e-market for the past five or six years? And what about the much-vaunted Motorola "Q" that was supposed to sell millions of units this year but appears to have stalled? It would be interesting to see how much Motorola coughed up for Good, which has raised more than $200-million in private equity from investors such as Kleiner Perkins. Canaccord Capital analyst Peter Misek said Good had no choice but to sell because the 470-employee company was "running out of money". For more, check out Blogging Stocks. Tags: , , ,

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 »