RIM has a strategy for Blackberry

Some analysts are now projecting that Palm stock will go down to zero. This perplexes me because WebOS and the patent portfolio alone are worth something to somebody. There’s even speculation that Google will acquire Palm to obtain the patent portfolio. The writing was on the wall that the downward trend would continue for Palm when it decided not to attend the Mobile World Congress 2010. I was writing about Palm “slipping further into oblivion” in early February.

Nonetheless, I’m not in the business of predicting stock prices and I want to clarify a remark I recently made about RIM (which included a stock chart for Nasdaq:RIMM). In my post about the Crowd Science survey, I commented:

Perhaps if RIM’s stock is beaten up badly (it still has a market cap of $42B), it could become a takeover target.

While I stand by the remark, I don’t mean to imply that RIM has no hope for the future. RIM is executing a strategy that could work.

As any Blackberry user will tell you, app development for the Blackberry plainly sucks compared to iPhone and Android. I don’t foresee this changing and I don’t think RIM does either. Instead, RIM is betting that mobile apps will be replaced by platform independent mobile web apps. RIM’s energy is focused on its WebKit web browser which was demoed at the MWC 2010. While it wasn’t included in Blackberry OS 5.0, it will almost certainly be a highlight of OS 6.0. Recently, images of the OS 6.0 interface leaked (via BBLeaks.com) which appear to me to be authentic. They include:

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

In my opinion, the biggest take away from the photos is the use of widgets and feeds. Useful widgets could make Blackberry competitive even if traditional app development significantly lags other platforms. Also, current Blackberries have no native support for RSS feeds. In fact, at holiday time, Crackberry.com sponsored a petition to request Google to develop an RSS reader for the Blackberry which evidently failed. If Blackberry had native support for RSS feeds, this would be a huge plus. Many Blackberry users use the very popular Viigo app but it has limitations and cannot run in a widget mode.

RIM is updating its Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) service on March 28th which will, among other things, improve Gmail integration. This is a significant step in the right direction for non-corporate customers.

The leaked photos of the Blackberry Slider (Codenamed “Mr. T”) were poorly received in the Blackberry community but the device could be a surprise success. While the Palm Pre never really lived up to expectations, the Blackberry Slider has a larger screen and better branding. Some are speculating that the device will be released in April. I doubt that it will. As I mentioned before, BGR reported that the Slider has been failing internal testing. RIM employees should be working day and night to work out the problems because many of Verizon’s Blackberry customers, me included, are seriously interested in the Android phones. Both the Nexus One and HTC Incredible will be released for Verizon within the next few weeks. Perhaps I’m stating the obvious: The later the release of the Blackberry Slider, the less likely it is to penetrate the increasingly competitive smartphone market.

In other RIM news, a new Blackberry manufacturing plant will be opened in Latin America soon.

Unlike Palm, which basically curled into the fetal position and died, RIM has a strategy. Its success depends on many factors but it could succeed. I’m not betting money one way or another.

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