February 19th, 2008

Analyst: BlackBerry service glitches ignite "concerns," but no harm done (yet)

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 8:12 am

Categories: Corporate Stuff, News, Outages

Tags: Research In Motion Ltd., Network Operations Center, RIM BlackBerry, Sales Strategy, E-mail, Manufacturing, Handhelds, Sales, Online Communications, Hardware

I’ve just been sent a copy of BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion stock analyst Mike Abramsky’s brand new, quite detailed analysis on RIM.

There’s plenty to chew on in this RBC Capital Markets report.

The first thing I wanted to know is Abramsky’s take on what effect, if any, the Feb.11 BlackBerry service outage will have on RIM’s business.

Summary: the incident reignites “concerns,” but wont effect sales of new BlackBerrys.

On Feb 11, RIM suffered a service disruption, leaving 8M BlackBerry users in the Americas without service for 3 hours, due to a problem with a system upgrade intended to increase capacity. The outage offers ST headline risk and reignites concerns over dependencies on RIM’s service, but is unlikely in our view to affect sales momentum (RIM’s last disruption was 10 months ago).

Abramsky then gives us some info on the Network Operations Center (NOC) where the outage occurred.

We est. RIM’s centralized NOC architecture now handles est. up to 1-2B emails per day (75-150 emails/day/user x 12M subs) or equivalent to 10%+ of global phone traffic, growing at 72% CAGR. The NOC also provides RIM with its competitive advantages — push email, security, bandwidth efficiency, etc. and offloads overhead from internal email servers, which are often less reliable.

Hmm, quite a busy place.  Apparently too busy to institute robust redundancies?

February 13th, 2008

NOC-NOC, who's there? Or, "I've seen the thumbwheel and the damage done"

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 11:10 am

Categories: Corporate Stuff, Outages, Security

Tags: Research In Motion Ltd., RIM BlackBerry, Outage, Tom, Manufacturing, Russell Shaw

NOC= (Blackberry-maker Research In Motion’s Network Operations Center in Waterloo, Ont.)

As to the latter portion of this post’s title, NOT an original.

Readers of a certain vintage may recognize that saying as an adaptation from an old Neil Young song entitled “I’ve Seen The Needle and the Damage Done.”

My colleague Tom Krazit gives the phrase a fresh meaning as he puts up a post containing observations about BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion’s Tuesday service outage, as well as continued practice of running pretty much all BlackBerry email and data traffic through its Network Operations Center.

Tom writes in part:

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that expansion efforts at RIM’s NOC may have been to blame for the outage. The problem isn’t that the servers are in Canada; they could be anywhere. It’s just that everything has to go through the one location. In theory, as long as you have enough redundant backup systems and plans, that shouldn’t be a problem. But every now and then, it is.

Frank Gilman, the chief technology officer for Los Angeles law firm Allen Matkins, was forced to deal with the outage Monday afternoon. “What surprised me was the apparent lack of a solid business continuity plan on RIM’s part to ensure reasonable connectivity,” he said via e-mail, of course. “A company that is marketing devices that increase the mobility of professionals should have systems and contingencies in effect to avoid an outage of that size and duration.”

This can lead to problems.

As Tom points out, and I so totally agree, not having multi-site redundancy for when this sheet hits the fan kind of leaves enterprises who have put full faith in BlackBerry’s “five nines” Service Level Agreements in a real pickle.

That’s so not OK.

If you are an enterprise BlackBerry user, I’d love to read your thoughts on this. Would you rather that RIM offer more redundancy, including perhaps, addl NOC(s).

February 12th, 2008

RIM CEO implies touchscreen BlackBerry is possible

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 7:17 am

Categories: Corporate Stuff, News

Tags: Touch Screen, Research In Motion Ltd., RIM BlackBerry, Keyboards, Monitors & Displays, Handhelds, Hardware, Peripherals, Components, Russell Shaw

Last week, I made a post uncovering the a just-published BlackBerry Patent application for technology that would enable a touchscreen BlackBerry.

Well, today at the Mobile World Congress, Jim Balsillie, the co-CEO of BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion strongly implied that this could very well happen.

Balsillie was asked by Reuters news reporter Sinead Carew if such a touchscreen was possible.

“For sure we’re looking at all kinds of different device packaging and presentation,” Balsillie told Reuters.

“I think getting religious on packaging is not the way to go,” he added. “It’s really user preference-oriented.”

December 20th, 2007

Total BlackBerry user base passes 12 million

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 7:08 pm

Categories: Corporate Stuff

Tags: Tax, Net Income, Quarter, RIM BlackBerry, Taxes, Free Trade, Handhelds, Financial Planning, Finance, Hardware

The number of BlackBerry users worldwide has now passed 12 million.

That’s according to BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion, which reported its latest quarterly earnings today. This report encompasses the period from September 1-December 1.

The company said revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 was $1.67 billion, up 22% from $1.37 billion in the previous quarter and up 100% from $835.1 million in the same quarter of last year. The revenue breakdown for the quarter was approximately 80% for devices, 14% for service, 4% for software and 2% for other revenue.

In addition, the company said that approximately 1.65 million BlackBerry subscriber accounts were added in the quarter and over 3.9 million devices were shipped. The total BlackBerry subscriber account base at the end of the third quarter was approximately 12 million.

Net income for the quarter for RIM was $370.5 million, or $0.65 per share diluted, compared with net income of $287.7 million, or $0.50 per share diluted, in the prior quarter and net income of $175.2 million, or $0.31 per share diluted, in the same quarter last year. The net income for the quarter includes a tax recovery of approximately $10.7 million resulting from the resolution of a tax matter relating to RIM’s Investment Tax Credits (ITCs).

Finally, RIM said revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008 ending March 1, 2008 is expected to be in the range of $1.80-$1.87 billion. Net subscriber account additions in the fourth quarter are expected to be approximately 1.82 million. Earnings per share for the fourth quarter are expected to be in the range of $0.66-$0.70 per share diluted.

November 10th, 2007

Black Cherry, Strawberry: not only cola flavors but target of BlackBerry trademark suit

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 11:25 am

Categories: Corporate Stuff

Tags: Research In Motion Ltd., LG Electronics Inc., RIM BlackBerry, Handhelds, Wireless, Hardware, Russell Shaw

Remember not quite two years ago, when BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion was being sued by a patent-holding law firm many thought was acting like a “patent troll?”

My how the tables have turned. As Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper reports today, RIM is suing not a patent holding firm, but popular phone maker LG Electronics Inc.

And the suit is not for patent infringement, but trademark infringement.

Seems as though RIM takes umbrage against some of the names LG is using for their phones: Black Label, Strawberry and Black Cherry.

In a filing with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, RIM says it believes that no other wireless device manufacturer should be able to use the words Black, Berry or Pearl without its consent.

“RIM’s BlackBerry wireless handheld devices and the goodwill associated with its BlackBerry marks are invaluable to RIM’s continued success,” RIM said in its court filing. “The aforesaid actions of LG have caused, and, unless enjoined, will continue to cause monetary damage and irreparable injury to RIM and the BlackBerry marks for which there is no adequate remedy at law,” Waterloo, Ont.-based RIM said.

I’m not a trademark lawyer, but looking at RIM’s stock price and balance sheet lately, the “have caused monetary damage” claim seems a bit hard to prove. Plus, BlackBerry and LG largely sell to different demographics. RIM the business types; LG the compulsive tween, teen and young adult texters you see in the mall or on busy streets.

RIM wants payback, big time.

RIM is going to court to ask for the destruction of all LG goods with Pearl, Berry or Black in their names. RIM is also seeking unspecified damages.

You might remember, as the article points out, that last December, RIM filed a suit in the same court against Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. alleging that company’s BlackJack wireless device was creating confusion between the two products. RIM and Samsung settled the suit.

October 5th, 2007

Here's my take on BlackBerry going forward

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 11:43 am

Categories: BlackBerry Pearl, Corporate Stuff

Tags: Mobile, Smart Phone, RIM BlackBerry, BlackBerry Unite, Handhelds, Smart Phones, Hardware, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Russell Shaw

My colleague Larry Dignan has weighed in on key points made by Research In Motion executives during yesterday’s Quarterly earnings call.

I have been studying the transcript. I’d like to offer some of my own interpretations.

Relying on a diligently assembled transcript posted by the Seeking Alpha website, Let’s dwell primarily on what RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie said.

The indented grafs are Balsillie’s remarks. The boldfaced remarks are mine.

We expect the BlackBerry Pearl 8310, which will be available from all carriers in North America later this fall, to open up a new market of CDMA users who want the small, light form factor of the Pearl on a high-speed EVDO network. Our experience with the Pearl on the edge platform is that it heavily contributes to net new subscriber account additions rather than driving an equal proportion of upgrades as we see with some of our other smartphone products.

Well, the Pearl’s expansion to all carriers, including CDMA-based ones, will certainly broaden their footprint. Due to form factor reasons and its superficial resemblance to a cellphone, I view the Pearl as more of a consumer device than the Curve is. For those cellphone users who wish to “graduate” to BlackBerry but are a bit intimidated by full-QWERTY BlackBerry Curve, I’d say the Pearl would be the easiest transition.

BlackBerry Unite is our new software offering designed to allow small groups, such as a family or Soho, to stay connected with each other and easily coordinate their personal and business activities.

BlackBerry Unite software will be offered as a free download that provides groups of up to five users with mobile access to shared calendars, pictures, music, documents, and desktop content through BlackBerry smartphones. This will allow these groups a simple, low-cost way to coordinate and collaborate with each other.

Some of the features of BlackBerry Unite include the ability to share key information, including e-mail, contacts, pictures, documents and bookmarks directly from the BlackBerry smartphone with other group members; remotely download content, including pictures, music, documents and other content on their desktop computers directly from their BlackBerry smartphone; coordinate schedules using shared wireless calendar, with the ability to check each other’s availability setup or modify appointments and send reminders; remotely secure devices, including the ability to use commands that wirelessly erase lost or stolen devices and to enforce password protection; simple wireless controls to help define acceptable smartphone usage for each individual, such as the ability to place long distance calls or access certain online content, and the ability to automatically back up files on the BlackBerry smart phone to the desktop computer, so that if the device is lost or stolen, all the data can be simply restored in minutes on a replacement unit.

BlackBerry Unite will be available for free as a free download and with the help of an easy-to-follow setup wizard, can be installed in minutes on a regular PC. BlackBerry Unite is currently in development and a prototype of the software is expected to be available for customers for a free download later this autumn. We are excited about the upcoming availability of this product, given its ability to further proliferate the BlackBerry solution as a convergence platform by wirelessly enabling key data stores for family and Soho customer segments.

I have some very recent personal experience that illustrates the appeal of BlackBerry Unite.

Several of my colleagues in a business I am involved with now collaboratively communicate via IM, our Wiki, and a Google Group. Yet we’ve discovered that no single solution provides all the functionality that seems to be promised by BlackBerry Unite. We can’t wait to take a look at how this platform will work for us.

IMHO the bigger picture view is that BlackBerry Unite will be able to handle all sorts of collaboration efforts that up until now, was primarily available to BlackBerry users who were tethered to an enterprise-based BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

BlackBerry Unite won’t require such tethering. In fact, let me so bold to say this functionality will serve as a type of democratization of BlackBerry capabilities to users who have no need for BES.

As a result, I predict a kinetic effect on BlackBerry sales from BlackBerry Unite. Unite will spur on potential BlackBerry buyers who had been holding back for lack of a BES affiliation.

During Q2, Verizon Business announced distribution of the Ascendent voice mobility suite as part of their fixed mobile convergence portfolio. We view this announcement from a major U.S. carrier as an endorsement of our strategy to deliver a mobile desk phone experience. During the past quarter, there’s been tremendous interest in the BlackBerry mobile voice system from end customers and carriers. Based on the technology available from Ascendent systems, BlackBerry mobile voice system delivers fixed mobile convergence between the desktop and BlackBerry smartphone. We believe this is the only solution that can truly unify the fixed and mobile environment in a compelling, easy-to-use and secure manner.

This advance positions RIM to benefit from the trends of unified communications and fixed mobile convergence, while remaining open to the various PBX and voice systems in use by the enterprise. We are beginning to see a trend in the number of telecom executives who are considering BlackBerry handsets in the mobile voice area for many of the same reasons that BlackBerry smartphones have been successful in the data area, and we are receiving early indications that enterprises are considering replacing cellular phones with voice-enabled BlackBerry smartphones in order to secure and converge this key enterprise store.

I agree. I cannot tell you how many supposedly technologically advanced companies lack true compatibility between mobile voice (say, a salesperson calling in and discussing numbers) and applications that live on the desktop.

For such situations, Ascendent’s functionality represents a big leap forward.

September 5th, 2007

Microsoft buy BlackBerry? Not gonna happen. Ever.

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 7:54 pm

Categories: BlackBerry Rumors, Corporate Stuff

Tags: Research In Motion Ltd., RIM BlackBerry, Microsoft Corp., Russell Shaw

When I was out of town and off the grid visiting my Mom over Labor Day weekend, the Blogosphere was humming with all sorts of rumors that Microsoft was in talks with BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion to buy the company.

But hey guess what.

We’re now two days into this short work week, and that jiveasset (tee hee) meme has dissipated in a cloud of smoke.

MSFT buy BlackBerry? Never gonna happen. I could see some strategic partnerships, such as making Office documents more iteratively viewable on RIM’s proprietary platform.  But what would Microsoft do with a BlackBerry platform that is a rival to their own Windows Mobile? Spend $46.46 billion (RIM’s market value at the end of today’s trading) or therabouts just to make RIM go away?

The next time you read such rumors, don’t think of them in conjunction with the floor of the stock exchange. Think of them in conjunction with the floor of the stockyard, if ya know what I mean.

Why?

Microsoft can spend far less money and architect solutions that would be highly competitive with BlackBerry.

In fact, they already are.

July 18th, 2007

BlackBerry: two units shipped for every activation

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 10:58 pm

Categories: Corporate Stuff

Tags: Activation, RIM BlackBerry, Russell Shaw

Phil Wolff of Skype Journal found himself at BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion’s annual meeting this week in Waterloo, Ontario.

Major takeaways:

As first reported June 28, RIM’s income is  76% devices, 16% service, 5% software, 3% other.

“And when I asked at the RIM meeting why they had shipped 2.4 million units but only had 1.2 million activations, it came out that the difference can largely be attributed to users buying upgrades,” writes Phil. “So effectively it comes out that there is huge loyalty amongst Blackberry users, so much so that new features and services are driving a significant portion of their hardware revenue.”

Yes, upgrades like the BlackBerry Curve and the BlackBerry Pearl. So the ratio of one activation per two units shipped sounds right, and logical.

As a matter of fact, I am upgrading my BlackBerry.  So I guess that I am a statistic now.

July 7th, 2007

BlackBerry co-CEO on iPhone marketing: "a dangerous strategy"

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 11:39 am

Categories: Carriers, Corporate Stuff

Tags: Apple iPhone, Marketing, RIM BlackBerry, Russell Shaw

Research In Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie tells the Toronto Star’s Chris Sorensen that although he could see where some people would find the iPhone’s look appealing, he doubts the iPhone will have much impact on BlackBerry sales.

Balsillie, who admits that he has not seen the iPhone up close and personal as of yet, says the iPhone will not be that big a hit with business users needing secure information technology systems of the type offered by RIM for years.

Balsillie also critiques Apple’s seeming willingness to commodize the iPhone as an Apple product, rather than bringing AT&T Wireless in as an equal partner. He seems to have issues with the iPhone being free of AT&T’s logo, and with activation necessary on Apple’s iTunes music store rather than the AT&T Mobility site.

“It’s a dangerous strategy,” says Balsillie. “It’s a tremendous amount of control. And the more control of the platform that goes out of the carrier, the more they shift into a commodity pipe.”

July 3rd, 2007

BlackBerry CEO: iPhone's helped us

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 2:56 am

Categories: Corporate Stuff

Tags: Apple iPhone, Attention, RIM BlackBerry, Russell Shaw

Apparently following the “high tide lifts all boats” mantra, BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion’s co-CEO Jim Balsillie views the iPhone as a device that is focusing such attention on enhanced-featured mobile devices that BlackBerry is catching a kind of marketing contact high.

“I’ve said before they (Apple) did us a great favor because they drove attention to the converged appliance space,” explained Balsillie in a conference call after last Thursday’s corporate quarterly earnings announcement. “The attention to it has quite frankly been overwhelmingly positive for our business.”

Balsillie is partly right. I wonder how many potential iPhone customers have looked at their communications needs- and the iPhone’s no-rebate $499-$599 price- and they decided they needed a device with business functionality instead.

Kind of wishing for a Lexus but realizing all you need is a Camry.