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 (RIMM) co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis have surprisingly little in common.

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Some positive views bubbling up today for BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIMM), 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.

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Collins Stewart analyst Ashok Kumar this morning upped his rating on Apple (AAPL) 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 (RIMM) and Microsoft (MSFT) Windows Mobile. He also writes that Google (GOOG) Android is “positioned to be a winner” in the sector.

So back to Apple. Kumar says that a low bill of materials should enable Apple to hit a $99 price point on an 8GB iPhone, stimulating demand. He says a launch with China Mobile (CHL) “is an additional near-term catalyst.” Further out, he thinks the launch of what he calls the “iPhone nano” in the first half of 2010 should help Apple further expand its share of the smart phone segment.

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Dell (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. Talk is that Dell plans a smartphone that would compete with Research In Motion’s (RIMM) BlackBerry, Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone, and the various devices running software from Microsoft (MSFT), Nokia (NOK), or the Google-backed (GOOG) Open Handset Alliance. Prototypes of a Dell-made smartphone are being circulated in the wild and, according to Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu, got a cool reception from mobile-phone carriers including AT&T (T) and Sprint Nextel (S).

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Bold call this morning–no pun intended–from ThinkEquity analyst Mike Burton, who launched coverage of Research In Motion (RIMM) with a Sell rating and a $30 price target.

Burton writes in a research note that he thinks RIMM is a great company, but that its margins are going to get squeezed by increasing competition, and that it needs to invest more to expand. “Some of this has been recognized by the deterioration of the stock,” he writes, “but we believe there is still significant downside to current earnings estimates.”

Burton says the handset sector “has always been brutal where distribution is sometimes as important as the quality of ones product portfolio, but it is also facing a new wave of competition in its core market in QWERTY smartphones.”

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Research In Motion (RIMM) 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.

Abramsky’s previous cautious view was based on worries over reduced margin visibility, execution issues and recession-related growth headwinds. But he notes that the stock has dropped 28 percent since it reported fiscal Q2 results. His new three-part thesis:

• Margin visibility is improving
• Execution is recovering
• Performance exceeding lowered expectations.

Abramsky notes that the company provided an unpleasant shock for investors late last year when it guided to a sharp drop in gross margins. But he says that with mix improving and costs coming down, hardware margins should stabilize. Meanwhile, he also says the company has addressed recent execution challenges, including product delays, quality issues and shortages.

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Goldman Sachs this morning added Research In Motion (RIMM) to the firm’s Conviction Buy list, replacing Cisco Systems (CSCO), which still remains Buy rated. The company also removed Riverbed (RVBD) from its Conviction Sell list, while maintaining its Sell rating.

“For RIMM, we want to take advantage of the stock’s very compelling valuation and upcoming catalysts, including to Storm launch and fiscal Q3 (November) earnings,” writes analyst Simona Jankowski. She notes that RIMM shares are down 62 percent over the last three months, compared with 51 percent for the average stock she covers and 32 percent for the S&P 500, on concerns of slowing demand and margin pressure as a result of competitive offerings from Apple (AAPL) and others.

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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. It was a surprise since Apple was clearly trying to create a consumer-oriented smart phone to fill the gap created by the business-centric BlackBerry from Research in Motion. As if that headline wasn’t eye-opening enough. 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. Why is that significant? Because it could jumpstart Apple’s nascent iPhone enterprise business in a big way, which has already enjoyed some pretty, rip-roaring success so far.

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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; it is poised to make major market penetration on its launch later this fall. Let’s look at the reasons. …

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From Citigroup’s Jim Suva this morning comes the mother of all Research in Motion (RIMM) reports, 21 pages long, under the title “Outlook is Increasingly Binary.” Suva says that given uncertainty as to whether RIM’s recently announced new BlackBerrys will hit the market in time for the holidays, there is a wide swath of estimate revisions that are possible, up or down, for the company’s earnings.

Writes Suva, “Investors are unsure if Bold will hit AT&T (T) and if Storm will be at Verizon [Communications' Verizon Wireless] (VZ) in time/scale for the holidays.”

Suva provides a handy graphic, a flowchart or decision tree, with possible outcomes. There’s a 25 percent chance RIM’s new products do not reach stores for the holidays, in which case, the stock goes to $45. More likely is that the products do make it in time, consumer uptake is strong, and profit margins improve as a result.

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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. Eighty percent of its sales come from the troubled U.S. market, its Treo phone has given up market share to the BlackBerry and it has lost buzz to the iPhone.

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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. (It is nice, I’ve seen it.)

Suva has recently made known his belief that the Bold will be an important factor for RIM in the second half of 2008.

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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. The same could be said about Research In Motion’s leadership position in the smart-phone market, where the long-dominant BlackBerry has been under attack by Apple and its popular entry, the iPhone.

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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.

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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?”

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