This year has been all about the Smartphones and their increasing dominance in the industry. According to the consumer market analysis, people are now increasingly becoming more addicted to these amazing mobile phones because of the multitude of features they offer. Manufacturers all over the globe, may it be the Cupertino based computing giant Apple or software giant Microsoft, are trying frantically to grab share of Smartphone market. This year manufacturers like Samsung, Apple, HTC and Microsoft introduced their phones that are feature rich and offer loads of user friendly options in the form of streamlined firmware and mobile OS.
Amid this Smartphone craze, there is one company that has been seeing a constant decline and that company is Blackberry makers, Research In Motion. Once the hallmark of the mobile phone industry and a trademark phone of the business and elite class, Research In Motion according to the industry analysts is on the verge of becoming a obsolete entity but there is another faction that believes that it might turn out to be the next big phenomenon in the tech world. But the general trend prevailing with the investors is that they are not sure what to do and whether to invest in this company or not.
According to a statistical report, last month the shares of RIM have plunged by almost 9%. The stocks of the company took a very nasty and a sudden plunge and tumble in the summer season mainly due to the concerns that the company’s stock and sales growth may die down because of competition from the tech giant Apple. The investors fear the competition from Apple’s hottest selling items iPhone and iPad, plus they also fear the brunt from Google’s flurry of Android powered phones and Tablets alongwith the other players like Motorola and Samsung. Some of the investors fear that RIM is also going for the same fate as what happened with Palm. Palm was also once the undisputed King of the mobile phones in the world but their Pre and Pxi series of phones didn’t get the much hype and from there started the downfall of the cellphone giant. Palm this year was bought by Hewlett Packard with a price tag of almost $1.2 Billion. This price tag is almost a fraction of what the company had worth of in the international market.
But on the bright side, Blackberry makers RIM has surged almost 45% since they hit a staggering 52 week low in the month of August. During this particular surprising note, the company has clearly outperformed the mighty Apple which shows that they have some juice left in them. According to the industry analysts, the newfound soul in the RIM excitement and revamping is Playbook, the tablet device that company has launched. RIM officially unveiled their Playbook in the month of September and it is anticipated that the device will go on sale in the first quarter of the year 2011.
According to Jefferies and Co, an analyst firm in New York, investors fear that the fate of RIM is looking to be in consonance with the Palm 2.0. The company thinks that RIM is also not receiving adequate praise for its latest Blackberry Phone Torch. Many of the bloggers in the tech industry are speculating that Blackberry Torch will not be as good as Apple’s iPhone or Android Powered Phones like Motorola Droid. But on the other hand some of the investors are keenly observing the company’s trend and some are overlooking the strong sales index. According to Jefferies and Co. report, RIM has brilliant year forward in 2011. Recently, RIM acquired QNX, a software systems company, working on open source software development platforms. QNX mobile operating system has somewhat won more raves as compared to the RIM’s Blackberry OS. The sole reason for this marked difference is that QNX allows outside developers to create intriguing applications for the RIM handsets which previously has not been happening at all.
Mobile applications are right now a hottest rage in the Smartphone industry and QNX will definitely help RIM to make their Tablets and handsets popular and become at par with the other tech giants in the industry. According to Misek, an analyst at Jefferies and Co., QNX will be the future backbone of RIM business model.
But not everyone agrees with this fact that QNX will change the scenario of RIM. An analyst at a New York based Financial Group states that investors should practice caution investing in RIM stocks till the time picture becomes clear. Jeffery, an analysts with the New York financial group thinks that some of the investors have very much overly positive assumptions about the RIMs tablet device Playbook, It might not be that much of a hit because RIM is very much late in jumping the Tablet bandwagon and other notable players like Apple and Samsung are already big guns in the industry and they will definitely give a very sought out competition to RIMs Tablet device.
According to the report by New York financial group, QNX is indeed a big catalyst sort of company for the RIM but the company has a hole in its portfolio when it comes to the high-end Smartphone deals. The first half 0f 2011 will indeed be challenging for RIM because they might experience some market losses in terms of stocks.
So the question popping up in the mind of tech analysts and investors is that whether RIM will be the next Palm or the next tech giant like Apple? Some of the analysts are of the opinion that they are neither because its future is a bit hazy and imminent releases will determine its standings in the market. A portfolio manager at an asset management company said that although RIM has performed fantastic in the history but it is not at all the company that the investors are opting for in the present times. It is sort of rapid product cycle company that is always banking on the latest products for gaining the profit margins and they will definitely rise once more when their Playbook will hit the market. The question is whether they will be able to perform like past and turn out to be a success story, or a flop.