RIM urged by Jaguar Financial Corporation to sell itself or patents to anyone willing to buy

 

While the month of August brought about a lot of changes in the mobile space, now that we’re well rolling into September — it doesn’t seem as though that news is slowing down any. In fact, it seems as though things are just heating up more then ever. Samsung and Apple are having squabbles, Google’s Motorola acquisition raises more questions then it offers answers, and HP seems rather lost with what, exactly to do with webOS while gaining an influx of new webOS users. As for RIM, well — their investors’ concerns are still there.

RIM Shareholders Call For Change

Its not to anyone’s surprise that RIM’s stock this year has been less than stellar. Rumors of the company selling its self to another tech giant have been circulating for quite some time now. In addition, key personnel have left the company to pursue other endeavors. The results of all this are that shareholders are becoming more restless as they continue to see their shares fall.

Now shareholders are beginning to become more vocal about their investments with BlackBerry maker RIM. In a letter to the board, Vic Albioni head of Jaguar Financial, an investor in RIM, expressed his frustrations with the company, and added some pretty bold suggestions.

Apple contributing to Chinese pollution, environmentalists say

Five environmental organizations in China have issued a report accusing Apple of contributing to the country’s pollution by providing business to suppliers that have “public records of environmental violations,” the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. The environmentalists attempted to contact 29 different tech companies in an effort to coerce the firms into cleaning up their supply chains but said Apple was unresponsive. Apple is reportedly taking “advantage of the loopholes in developing countries’ environmental management systems” to create its products. Factories for Kaedar Electronics and Unimicron Electronics are being blamed for increased cancer rates and pollution in the Chinese city of Kunshan. In addition, increased air pollution has forced parents to send their children to schools outside the city.

Read on for more.

RIM Execs Talk About New Devices Marketing & Plans

Ashley pointed out an interesting article in the forums where the Financial Post interviewed two RIM execs today. They spoke to Patrick Spence, RIM’s new managing director of global sales and regional marketing, and Andrew Bocking, RIM’s vice president of BlackBerry software about the new announcements today along with quite a few other topics. There is nothing really new being said here but it does help flesh out the story about RIM’s sales and marketing plans.

Check out the full interview at the Financial Post

via: bbreview

Russian government may ban iPad, adopt PlayBook or Android tablets instead

The Russian government is considering disallowing the use of Apple’s iPad tablet within government agencies due to security concerns, Russian-language business news site RBC Daily reports. Instead, it is investigating various alternative tablet options including RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook, Android-powered tablets or even a new device created by a Russian agency. Government security experts are reportedly looking for more “cryptographically secure tablet PCs” than Apple’s iPad tablet, and if the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology’s recent certification is any indication, the BlackBerry PlayBook could fit the bill. RIM announced last week that its PlayBook tablet received FIPS 140-2 certification, thus allowing it to be used by U.S. government officials. No other tablet has received FIPS certification to date.

[Via Financial Post]

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Sprint reports big Q2 loss as it sheds 101,000 postpaid subs

Sprint on Thursday reported greater than expected losses in the second quarter despite modest revenue growth. The nation’s No. 3 carrier pulled in $8.3 billion in its June quarter, up 4% from the same quarter a year prior, but it wasn’t enough to bring the company back into the black. Sprint’s net losses in the second quarter totalled $827 million, 11% worse than the $760 million loss it reported in the second quarter of 2010. On the bright side, however, those losses include $588 million in bad investments and a $52 million tax charge from the state of Michigan, so Sprint would have shown sequential and year-over-year improvements if not for those losses. Sprint also reported its best subscriber churn of late in the second quarter, adding more than a million new subscribers despite shedding 101,000 net wireless postpaid customers. “Sprint’s second quarter results, including our fourteenth consecutive quarter of improved customer care satisfaction, our best ever postpaid churn, more than 1 million net wireless subscriber additions and wireless service revenue growth, validate that our focus on providing simplicity, value and an unmatched customer experience is working,” said Sprint CEO Dan Hesse in a statement. Of note, sprint also announced a deal with LightSquared on Thursday that will see it bring 4G LTE services to 260 million Americans by 2015.

 

Sprint’s full earnings release follows below.

Russia looking into implementing the BlackBerry PlayBook and banning the iPad for government use

 

Last week RIM announced that the BlackBerry PlayBook was granted FIPS 140-2 certification. This makes the PlayBook the first tablet to be approved for use by US federal government employees, which is a pretty big thing. It seems this is opening up doors in other places as well, as Russia is now looking into banning Apple’s iPad for government use, and looking into the PlayBook as a more secure alternative.

The reports suggest the government is still deciding whether it will use devices from RIM, tablets running Google Inc.’s Android software or a new device created by a Russian agency using “a variety of security systems.” The implementation of a more secure system will help “speed up workflow among agencies” according to the report.

If true, the backing of the Russian government could prove to be another victory for RIM as it seeks to use its reputation of prioritizing security technology to position the BlackBerry PlayBook as the tablet of choice for businesses and governments, the way it originally marketed its BlackBerry smartphones.

Indeed, it was RIM’s security technology which helped the company’s BlackBerry devices to become the gold standard of mobile devices for government agencies around the world, including the Canadian government and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.

If this goes through, it could go a long way towards regaining some of that market share that Research in Motion has lost in recent months, as Russia would possibly be the first of many governments to adopt the tablet for use. BlackBerry has long been known for putting security at the top of the priority list, and the PlayBook has been no exception to this standard which may prove to be a big advantage.

Source: RBK Daily via Financial Post via cb

Poynt User Base Growing Tremendously But at What Cost?

 

Poynt is easily one of the best BlackBerry apps ever built and we love writing about it. What we also love about Poynt is that it’s a public corporation so their financials are available to anyone who cares to do a little digging. The mobile industry is hot right now and Poynt serves as an interesting case study about what it takes to grow a large mobile company and how profitable a free app with purely advertising-based revenues can be.

Today marks a pretty big news day for Poynt as the app/company has surpassed more than 8.5 million unique users at the end of June 2011 across North America, Western Europe and Australia, after reaching 3.2 million at the end of June 2010. Of the over 700,000+ new users added in June 2011, 500,000+ were on the Android platform. Existing preloads contributed to over 300,000+ of these Android users in the month of June. So far in July, the average number of new daily users added has exceeded 25,000, putting the Company on track for another record month. Currently, Poynt has over 9.0 million unique users.

Here are the numbers Poynt would like us to focus on:

The last financials posted on Poynt’s site were the Q3 2010 Financial Statements. We should be seeing new filings coming soon but we can see the sort of cost it takes to get to almost 10 million users and the revenue one might expect.

Obviously as Poynt grows its user base, it’s also growing as a company. Traditionally, mobile companies are pretty lean but Poynt seems to be fairly heavy in terms of management and operating costs. Salary and consulting fees increased by $619,702 or 132% in 2010 compared to the same period in 2009. Another area where Poynt differs from a typical mobile company is in advertising. Most app companies will rely on the app stores and manufacturers for promotion, with some blog and inexpensive community outreach. Poynt on the other hand, has advertising and promotion expenses that increased by $692,932 (789%). Overall, a company like Poynt is cash intensive to operate. For the three months ended September 30, 2010, the Company used $1,388,590 (2009 – $2,594,534) cash in operating activities.

Revenue for Poynt has increased but it doesn’t come close to covering their expenses. Sales and licensing revenues for the nine months ended September 30, 2010 increased by 172% to $605,092 from $222,760 for the same period in 2009.

It should be interesting to see what the latest financials for Poynt bring but it would be surprising if revenues ever come close to covering expenses. Perhaps the lean, startup-style mobile company is the only way to truly be profitable in this industry.

via: bbcool

RIM’s Financial Struggle

A website posted a teaser article about investors finding a way to sell RIM’s stock. I call it a teaser because you have to purchase a subscription to the website to view the rest. The information, though very little, is useful. By looking at the two paragraphs available, anyone who is familiar with stocks could decipher what the rest of this article may be covering.
Head to this link for details @ online.barrons.com

via:bbempire

RIM And Telefonica to Introduce BlackBerry App World With Integrated Carrier Billing

From Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. RIM and Telefonica today announced that they are working together to introduce BlackBerry App World with integrated carrier billing on a global basis. Carrier billing will allow Telefonica customers to purchase apps from BlackBerry App World and charge the purchases directly to their monthly bill. Customers will also be offered the flexibility of charging in-app purchases to their carrier bill which allows for the purchase of digital goods to be made without interrupting their application experience. Patrick Spence, Regional Managing Director for RIM, tells us:

 

“BlackBerry App World is now available in over 100 countries. Integrated carrier billing will make it easier than ever for Telefonica customers to purchase apps for their BlackBerry smartphones.”

Joaquín Mata, Global Head of Financial Services for Telefónica, says:

“Carrier billing is a payment method that brings a unique user experience and will further develop the on-device virtual goods and applications business.”

This type of integration is great for the user experience. Just one less bill to have to sort out of the stack of many.

 

source:RIM