For two Canadian guys who’ve spent the past 17 years together building one of the world’s most important tech companies, Research in Motion co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis have surprisingly little in common.
Some positive views bubbling up today for BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, as Susquehanna Financial Group’s Jeffrey Fidarco initiates coverage of its stock with a “Positive” rating and a price target of $94, which would be about 18 percent upside from the current price. And an increase in estimates by Oppenheimer & Co.’s Ittai Kidron.
Collins Stewart analyst Ashok Kumar this morning upped his rating on Apple to Buy from Hold, setting a $170 price target.
Kumar contends that Apple will gain share in the smart phone segment from both Research In Motion and Microsof Windows Mobile. He also writes that Google Android is “positioned to be a winner” in the sector.
Dell CEO Michael Dell has done little to dispel rumors that his company is working on a mobile computing device. In fact, he all but confirmed them while traveling in Japan on March 24 when he said: “It is true that we are exploring smaller-screen devices.” What form those devices will take remains a matter of heated debate.
Bold call this morning–no pun intended–from ThinkEquity analyst Mike Burton, who launched coverage of Research In Motion with a Sell rating and a $30 price target.
Research In Motion shares are getting a lift today from RBC Capital analyst Mike Abramsky, who raised his rating on the stock to Outperform from Sector Perform. He upped his price target on the stock to $75, from $45.
Goldman Sachs is a little bit in love with Research In Motion this morning. “…we want to take advantage of the stock’s very compelling valuation and upcoming catalysts, including the Storm launch and fiscal Q3 (November) earnings,” according to the firm’s Simona Jankowski. She believes that the launch of both the Bold and the Storm in the same quarter can reduce the risk to RIM’s numbers. Also, sales of the Bold are “off to a good start.”
Just last week, J.D. Power made headlines when it released a study showing that Apple’s iPhone was the top mobile device among business users. Now I’m getting word from the folks at Citrix Systems that the company is designing virtualization software specifically for the iPhone and it will be coming soon to the Apple App Store.
Having followed activity in the BlackBerry ecosystem over the past few weeks, I have come to the conclusion that BlackBerry Storm should be called BlackBerry Stealth. Why? With little media coverage, its forthcoming launch is the sleeper play in the smartphone market. …
The “binary” outcome of RIM’s dilemma, according to research done by Citigroup’s Jim Sava, rests largely on whether or not Bold and Storm, the company’s widely anticipated new products, hit the market in time for the holidays. From there, in either case, the flowchart of scenarios and corresponding percentages–do consumers like the product? do profits go up?–become overwhelming. And of course, the company has recently changed its strategy and business model–it’s now a consumer company. Given that, it still boils down to Suva’s coin toss. Heads: earnings up; tails: earnings down.
Unless you’re Google, these look like rough times to launch a mobile operating system. That puts Palm in an awkward position. Things have not been going well for the beleaguered smartphone maker, whose founders arguably kick-started the smartphone revolution 12 years ago.
What’s the killer app on a BlackBerry? Citigroup analyst Jim Suva has a note out today detailing his experience testing the forthcoming Research in Motion (RIMM) BlackBerry–the “Bold.” He says one of his tests involved watching the comedy movie “Talladega Nights” about race car driver Ricky Bobby, which showed off the pretty screen on the device.
Ice-hockey player Jim Balsillie, who’s also the co-chief executive of Research In Motion Ltd., said in a recent media interview that he plays offense on the ice, not defense. “There’s no glory in defense,” Balsillie commented, according to Bloomberg News.
In a few weeks, the Apple faithful and other gadget mavens will line up as part of the mad rush to be among the first to buy the new 3G iPhone on July 11. Contrast that with the rest of the wireless business, where once-hot device makers such as Motorola Inc. cannot even give away many of their products.
Along the lines of can’t-really-be-answered-but- gosh-they’re-fun-to-ponder questions like, say, “Who’d win in a fight, Batman or Spider-Man?” or “Star Destroyer vs. U.S.S. Enterprise?” here’s one regarding the iPhone: What historical Mac is a current iPhone most analogous to, spec-wise? I.E., complete this sentence: “An iPhone is like having a tiny ____ in your pocket?”
This is a section of the All Things Digital Web site featuring posts from around the Web, from other Dow Jones properties and also original pieces we solicit. The section is now explicitly labeled that it comes "from other Web sites."
We are fully aware of the controversies around how linking and aggregating is done on the Web and we, in no way, are attempting to "scrape" original content created by others. Instead, regarding third-party posts, we are trying to point readers of this site to other posts from around the Web that we admire and are trying to do so in the quickest manner possible.
The Internet is full of terrific content that is not ours and we want to help our readers find it by making editorial suggestions--Look, Mom, no algorithm!--of posts we think are worth their time.
That is why we have made even more changes to Voices to ensure we do this in the most transparent and timely way. While we don't expect that everyone will agree with our policies, we have made changes that reflect our intent in pointing to content outside our site.
So here is exactly what we do:
Because the site is wholly owned by Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, we aim to adhere to the journalistic standards of the best of the mainstream media. But, because it is run autonomously as a small online startup, we aim to exhibit the fresh thinking and nimbleness of the best of the new media. We want to be first, and sassy, but also well sourced and accurate. We will offer lots of opinion and analysis, but plenty of fact as well.
D is unlike any other executive conference. Since its debut in 2003, D has brought to life the energy and excitement of the digital revolution in an unscripted, upfront and unparalleled way. Read more »
Don't miss a post! Sign up for our Daily Email and get AllThingsD.com delivered each day.
Get columns, blogs and video from D and All Things Digital on your iPhone. Download now »
