Research in Motion Takes Dead Aim at Apple

While it remains to be seen if Apple, Inc (AAPL-NASDAQ) can wrest market share from Research in Motion's (RIMM-NASDAQ) bread and butter enterprise market, RIM is wasting no time in targeting Apple's stronghold, the consumer.

This summer will likely witness the release of a 3G iPhone to compete with RIM's new 3G Bold. But RIM's comments today at their Wireless Enterprise Symposium (WES) would seem to indicate that they are taking North American market share from Apple, and have increased their "non-enterprise" subscribers from 27% to 38% of the total, and according to Gartner, have a commanding lead over Apple:

"This is a very solid announcement," said Kevin Dulaney, wireless analyst and vice president of Gartner Inc. "The thing about RIM is that they don't make many mistakes. They still have a big advantage over the iPhone." Marketwatch

And they are not the only analyst singing the Bold's praises:

“We think the Bold’s specs should appeal to both business and consumer users,” Jim Suva of Citigroup wrote in a note to clients....Analyst Deepak Chopra of National Bank said in a report Monday that while the Bold targets business customers, “we believe consumers will crave it.”

But not even new all-time highs can convince some of RIM’s skeptics. The blogopshere is Apple country, despite the efforts of Crackberry.com, and nonsensical comments like this continue to be published:

RIM will be assaulted by the new Apple 3G iPhone. It already has multimedia capacity and will add 3G. E-mail will work better on the faster network so the iPhone’s appeal to the general business user should go up.

The Blackberry is for e-mail. Making it more feature rich is a way to make it harder to use. For RIMM, that is a big mistake. 24/7WallSt

Speaking of big mistakes, writing a series of negative pieces on RIM has been a big mistake. Although RIM’s valuation can be debated, most of the RIM analysis on the internet is dominated by master debaters.

With RIM’s long rumored touch screen only a matter of time, this battle is certain to heat up. As RIM’s CEO said in wrapping up his comments today:

....the co “had a number of tricks up our sleeves for the rest of the year.”

Tricks or not, RIM shareholders are laughing all the way to the bank.

One-Year RIMM Chart

And some iPhone users are switching...to RIM

My daughter Emily was passed down the iPhone I bought when it first came out. It didn’t work for me so I gave it to her. That phone developed a small crack in the screen last fall but she kept using it. The crack got worse, propagated, and yesterday she dropped it again.

Now it’s shattered, it’s brains have been battered, splattered all over manhattan. Sorry about that, just couldn’t resist a little Stones lyrics fun.

So I asked her if she wanted another iPhone. Surprisingly, the answer was no.She wants the new crimson red Blackberry Curve. A VC

Emily Wilson, RIM fan.
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RIM CO-CEO Interview from 2pm Today

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Research in Motion debuts 3G BlackBerry
MarketWatch

RIM (RIMM) Tries To Keep A Market It Is Losing (AAPL)
24/7 WallSt

BlackBerry Bold Officially Announced!
Crackberry.com

RIM May Take on Apple With New BlackBerry Bold
CNBC

iPhone vs Blackberry - Survey Sample Size of One
A VC
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The content contained in this blog represents the opinions of 1440 Wall Street. This commentary in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. It is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author. No Positions

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