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“But analysts focused on the downside: The BlackBerry maker said it added only 4.5 million new subscribers in the quarter, missing its target of 4.9 million to 5.2 million; it announced that this was the last quarter for which it would disclose how many new subscribers it was adding; and it has steadily drained its cash reserve,” Corkery reports. “That cash reserve fell to $2 billion from $3.2 billion in the previous quarter, mostly because of share repurchases but also because of higher levels of inventory. In other words, it isn’t selling as many BlackBerry’s as it planned for).”
“RIM executives talked optimistically on a conference call to discuss the earnings about being able to catch up to Google’s Android at the low end of the smartphone race,” Corkery reports. “But the slowdown in new subscribers doesn’t bode well. Short sellers already were on the case, as short interest doubled to 31 million shares at the end of last month from 17.2 million shares at the end of May.”
Corkery reports, “With the pressure on, it could be time to dust off those M&A scenarios that have been floating around for months. Chief among those scenarios: Microsoft acquiring RIM.”
Read the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Buy one, get three free?
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “James W.” for the heads up.]
Note the inventory issue. RIM over manufactures, and they wind up with devices sitting on shelves. Apple manufactures just in time, suffers some complaints about not enough inventory, but doesn’t waste money, and maintains a bit of the mystique that suggests their products are so desirable that they’re always sold out.
I cannot wait for the tablet from MicroNokyaBerryhoo.
why would MS want RIM? they already won the MS vs RIM war. When blackberry first came out with BES i bet it scared microsoft because people didn’t care wether the backend ran MS Exchange or some cheapo email server since it all sent the data to blackberries the same way.
MS fought back with ActiveSync with Apple and Google licensing it and using it to kill RIM there is no more need for RIM and it’s archaic mobile OS.
Blackberry is more secure than ActiveSync but no one cares since iphones and android phones have a lot more functionality.
i love m iPhone just like the rest of ya’ll but RIM isn’t struggling. They’re fine.
http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/17092010/6/finance-rim-results-top-forecasts-shares-jump.html
“…catch up to Google’s Android…” – I’ve never heard a phrase like that. You hear something new everyday…
This analysis is from hedge fund assholes. RIM blew away absolutely everything except subscribers. They make good money and have services that no one else can match.
I’m all for rivalry between platforms but MDN is quoting complete jackasses spinning harder than a turbine to protect their shorting of stock. It’s manipulation and it’s transparent bullshit. When analysts trash Apple with the same stupidity we are all their to call bullshit. Well, this spin from the anal cysts is just that: bullshit.
theloniousMac, you misrepresent (or misunderstand) just in time manufacturing. It is a process of not keep deep stock of component parts used to manufacture a product. Virtually all manufacturing is done this way noe (including no doubt RIMM’s)
Apple,exhibits good inventory management, ie little inventory stacked in the distribution channel. However this is not the reason for shortages (actually this kind of tight management make more product available where it is needed (rather than sitting in stock in a warehouse in an area where demand is not as high)
Apple has had the manufacturing taps wide open and still can’t satisfy the huge demand that is simply a question of supply and demand (demand exceeds ability to manufactures=shortage) This is not due to inventory management or some contrived shortages as you post infers.
@theloniousMac
IMHO, Apple’s brilliant plans to keep “a bit of the mystique” have gotten a little out of hand with the white iPhone 4.
Microsoft may think such a move makes sense. Microsoft is strong in “enterprise” with Windows. RIM is also still strong in the same segment, for smart phones. RIM also needs a new OS badly. Microsoft and RIM can work together to transition Blackberry into Microsoft’s primary smart phone for the “Windows Phone” platform, while maintaining and leveraging access to RIM’s existing server infrastructure for Blackberry.
It does not need to be an acquisition; it can be an investment from Microsoft to infuse RIM with the necessary cash to fund the transition work. That would reduce risk to Microsoft and avoid the type of disaster that resulted from the Danger acquisition (Kin).
Whether Microsoft and RIM could actually pull it off successfully… that’s a separate question.
Smart phone market share per CNBC
RIM 36.3% Apple 23.8% Google 17%
Microsoft grabbing RIM would push it right to the top of the pile.
Then what happens to the investment in Win 7 Mobile?
More like Apple has a problem being stuck with only one carrier as RIM and Google doesn’t.
@His Shadow,
One the one hand (when looking at the numbers) I agree with you, RIM is still making good profits.
However, what analysts are jumping on is the narrative, and in this case the narrative, while premature, has some validity to it.
RIM is slowing down in terms of growth, and it’s doing so while the very market it’s in is exploding. It’s facing new competition in the market and hasn’t shown any signs that it can keep pace.
At some point, RIM needs to show that it can be more than just being known for being the “best phone for email”, especially when surveys suggest it’s no longer even that anymore.
I don’t think it’s going to happen. I think RIM has a fan base that will backlash against the very changes RIM needs to make to keep up with the competition. It’s in a no-win scenario.
Analysts see this too and are being aggressive in foretelling the narrative.
As far as Microsoft buying RIM, that’s just not going to happen.
It’s time for the “Buy one take 5 or as many as you can talk others into using!” Flood the market. That is how Microsoft’s IE became No. 1 years ago. FREE FREE FREE … Out of business soon!
“Microsoft acquiring RIM”
PLEASE Microsoft. Acquire RIM! Spend money. Spend lots and lots of money. Spend it all! Go into dire debt. Go bankrupt spending money! Then Die Die Die. The sooner the better, the sooner we escape The Dark Age of Computing.
MS buying RIM is just “Slow Death by Big Check.” Remember Danger?
tying two rocks together won’t make them float any better
>RIM is slowing down in terms of growth, and it’s doing so while the very market it’s in is exploding.
This is rich statement, considering last quarter Apple sold slightly less iPhones than quarter before. I know, I know: anticipation of iPhone 4, lack of older cheaper iPhone models on shelves, etc.,etc.
I am sure RIM has plenty of excuses, too – but they still manage to sell more devices each quarter than previous. How long will it last – we will see, but they deserve compliment for surviving what everyone predicted would be worst fiscal quarter of their life.
Like a barnacle attached to Microsoft’s Anchor of life…..down…..down…..down……
@davewrite,
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So so funny. Float like a rock.
Just a thought,
En
One cautious note: RIM hides their phones sales. Instead, they quote the number of phones “shipped”. It’s very sneaky if you’re not paying attention.
@ Derek Currie
It’s funny to see how MACTARDS are this pathethic and brainwashed.
From now on bing and decide. http://www.bing.com
Microsoft will not acquire RIM or Nokia. Ballmer is not *THAT* stupid.
Oh look. Another anonymous coward troll:
“I’m a PC” sez “MACTARDS
Hey, check out what I can do. I can be “I’m a PC” too. This is going to be fun…
Why would Microsoft buy RIM when it’s Mobile OS sucks just like Windows Mobile?
Microsoft should have bought Palm?
Great for Apple that these clowns just don’t get it!
If only we PCTARD TROLLS had Exlax. Maybe we’d be less inclined to spew shite from the wrong orifice.
There is hope; I’m a Pc realise and admit the fact that he is a PCTARD TROLL. Good for you.
Not an unnatural choice for Microsoft to acquire RIM, because the Blackberry’s server based ecosystem just might be something M$ may want to adopt, then adapt to Microsoft technology to further lock in ex-RIM users and their desktop systems.
Just like M$ conquered corporate computing by continously “extending” enough M$ specific options in e.g., network authentication (eagerly exploited by Apple-agnostic IT-people to keep their environment Windows-only) for “emerging standards” like SMB (effectively frozen because Microsoft needed to maintain compatibility with its large installed base of NT servers).
If Microsoft did go bankrupt from over spending, I wonder which company would buy the Windows brand and software?
The Windows OS will outlive Microsoft, as Windows will always be around in some form or another.
RIM was successful 4 years ago because it offered the best smartphone experience and tailored it for business use. They could charge good prices because no one else had anything better.
Since then Apple (and then Android) have come up with better smartphone with way more applications than just mail. Now they can charge top prices for the phones whereas RIM have to offer two for one deals. RIM is quickly swimming to the bottom of the food chain and it is hurting their business.
Unless they start offering better functionality then they will be in trouble. Smartphones have evolved and RM has not.
Yet RIM continues to sell more devices every quarter and they earned $800 mln. And before you say “bogo this and bogo that” please note their top line revenues were an all-time record high. This site is pretty good for apple related stuff but the vitriol spewing regarding all other companies is a joke and makes mdn look childish. (posted from iPhone)
An anonymous ‘Struggling?’ sez: “…RIM continues to sell more devices every quarter and they earned $800…”
About once a year I’m good for a long rant at PC TardTrolls. Enjoy:
I’ve never bashed RIM, Previously I’ve statedhere that I hope they continue on into the future as a worth competitor with Apple. I don’t comprehend bashing RIM considering the great stuff they typically create. Right now I feel sorry for Nokia, who are having a lousy time. I hope they get back up again, despite their poor taste in CEOs.
But don’t ever expect me or other Mac users to have an appreciation of Microsoft. Let me tell you why:
Setting aside the usual subjects of Microsoft crapware and their overall oppressive effect on the computing community over the last 30 years…. My earliest and worst experiences with TROLLS have been Microsoft fanboi trolls. They have an extremely long and moronic history of Mac bashing, most frequently using FUD, lies and deceit for the pure pleasure of making Mac users miserable. I don’t know what it is about Windows that attracts psychpaths. But they’ve been out in force since I got on the net in 1995. There are no more vile people on the net than PC Trolls. I, like most Mac users, find Mac hating trolls to be insane, stoopid and sadistic a-holes.
There is nothing equivalent to PC Trolls in the Mac fanboi culture. I have very rarely seen rabid dumbass Mac users go out of their way to slam and slag PC users.
Check me out: I’m a board member of the local Windows PC user group. The previous board ASKED me to join them. It’s the best user group in town and I enjoy working with them! I provide the group’s monthly Windows shareware presentation and help out with member’s PC questions. There is not-a-one among the user group who bash Macs without giving me a wink of humor. We all enjoy HELPING one another. That’s what it’s all about. That’s humanity at its best.
So who are these nutjob Mac haters on the Internet? Many of them go out of their way to leave the environs of Windows specific net groups and come over to Mac specific groups ONLY to make Mac users miserable. That’s sick shite. Never would I or any of my personal friends consider such mentally diseased abuse of other people.
But we’ll happily kick anti-Mac Trolls in the balls at every turn. We’ll also ‘call a spade a spade’ when someone is tossing lunatic criticisms our way. I kick balls in Mac groups, never Windows groups. I’m not over at some Windows centric group ranting about how their chosen operating system sucks. I’m saying it HERE at MacDailyNews. That makes me a decent, honest guy with experienced opinions about both Apple and Microsoft.
Now ask yourself: So what exactly is a TROLL? And why do they go out of their way to make other people suffer? Why did they start bashing Mac users in the first place? Mac users didn’t start it. Mac users don’t go over to Windows groups to retaliate. We champion the best technology we can find.
What exactly is the point of hating Mac users?
Let’s see if we get a sane and serious reply. I doubt it.
Cause Apple comes out repeatedly with cool, useful and pretty interesting avant-garde stuff and not Microsoft. Most negativity I hear about the Mac platform always comes from someone who is somehow making their living off of something Microsoft. The only way to promote your platform is to slag other, not to point out that yours is great because of this or that.
Its wither that or its because Mac users are indeed cool
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