Thread: Wallstreet Believes RIM Should Drop Hardware; License BB10 Only

Jefferies & Co analyst Peter Misek, who has followed RIM and BlackBerry very closely for the last couple of years, has downgraded his rating on Research in Motion to "Underperform" from "Hold" with a target stock price of $15 (from $17 previously).

No deal to license BlackBerry 10 in any way in the near future. After meeting with new RIM CEO Thorsten Heins and finding him "engaging, articulate, and thoughtful," Misek believes it's a mistake to not bring BlackBerry's secure email, their strongest point according to him, to iOS and Android. While they believe this will eventually happen (they estimate it'll take another year), for now not moving towards that is a bad strategy. The proposed plan to license BB10 to Samsung and "to launch a new BBM, email, and social networking app for iOS/Android for a monthly fee" will also end as just that they believe, a plan.

No positive headlines or news any time soon. Even though BB10 is coming, it's not coming soon enough. They firmly believe BB10 to be "an excellent OS" but it seems they have simply lost faith in RIM's capability to put a complete product out there and be popular once again (software, hardware and marketing). The licensing argument is something that's been around for the past weeks and before Heins was appointed as the new CEO, many believed that would be the only way out for RIM.

Jefferies & Co isn't completely counting RIM out though. After their initial meeting with Heins, they mentioned they see "no evidence that he is under the influence of the former management in any way." This could signal a definite new era and beginning for RIM ushered in with BlackBerry 10.

For investors, it's definitely hard to put faith in RIM with BB10 though. Especially after the last two years with OS 6, and OS 7 devices being promised as revolutionary in the mobile industry. It is a little different in this case though because we do have a pretty clear picture of what BlackBerry 10 will offer; we have the PlayBook's OS for reference. The questions will lie with the hardware and marketing though and that's only natural. After years of lag, millions of battery pulls through out the world, and terrible advertising campaigns it's rightfully questioned. The months leading up to the first BB10 device launch will be crucial for RIM.

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LOL!! Those who can..do, those who can't...talk s***!

As above! ^

Give the new CEO a chance to change things , I think Rim will make it if they have a little breathing room from the investors that want to sell off the company for short term profit & then no furture left for Rim & its employees.

Originally Posted by jerry12

Give the new CEO a chance to change things , I think Rim will make it if they have a little breathing room from the investors that want to sell off the company for short term profit & then no furture left for Rim & its employees.

I agree with you jerry12, RIM needs time to change things for the better, and as for investors, they need to remember, " Rome wasn't built in one day".

Whatever analyst, Peter Misek, of Jefferies & Co., thinks of RIM at the current moment and into the future, his " downgraded" rating of RIM is not the right move, let alone, his opinions on the future of RIM.

Let's examine RIMs activity in 2012 so as to corroborate my first post:

Appointed new CEO and new Chair of the board.

New CEO holds numerous interviews and press conferences to outline his strategy to reverse RIM/Blackberry decline in the North American market.

Released BBOS 7.1.

Showcased PBOS 2.0 at CES.

Announce release of PBOS 2.0 for February 2012.

Showcased Porsche 911 Convertible with Blackberry and QNX technology which demonstrated the ability to interface BB10 devices with the cars onboard QNX computer at CES.

Launched Blackberry Business Cloud Services for MS Office 365.

Successfully encouraging more developers to build native apps for Playbook, which will also work on BB10 devices.

Giving away a free Playbook to ALL developers for app submission before February 13th 2012.

Announce launch of Playbook 3G in Q2 2012.

Launched "Be Bold" ad campaign in North America.

Leaked image of redesigned Blackberry London to gauge public opinion of new design.

Waiting for new power efficient LTE processors for BB10 devices.

Remain silent about specs and launch date of Blackberry 10 phone.


Anyone else see the emerging pattern? Thorsten Hines is steadily building the infrastructure to fully support BB10 when it's eventually launched later this year. It's amazing that the Wall Street analysts can't see that...then again...they didn't see the recession coming either.