Research In Motion's BlackBerry 10 Will Serve Its Intended Purpose

**web99** · 12-30-2012, 02:54 AM

I came across a very interesting article by Muhammad Bazil that has a positive outlook for the blackberry 10 handset, due to be unveiled on January 30th. In the article, he noted some key factors, the first one being a more positive sentiment from analysts regarding RIM's future.

Research In Motion's BlackBerry 10 Will Serve Its Intended Purpose - Seeking Alpha

Here are some quotes

Positive sentiment from analysts

One positive indicator is the increased positive sentiment from analysts over the BlackBerry 10. While most analysts contend that Research In Motion is not out of the woods yet, they maintain that the BlackBerry 10 could very well realign the stock on a desired upward trajectory. Toward the fall of November, Jeffries upgraded Research In Motion in a notable fashion: shifting the recommendation from underperform to hold and further doubling the price target at the time from $5 to $10. The upgrade was tied to the increased positivity from carriers. Similarly, Jeffries outlined that the risk/reward ratio was more balanced than it had ever been before.

I personally believe that these upgrades were founded on solid ground. To start with, BB7 inventories are relatively low considering that BB10's launch comes two years late. This delay, despite being a drawback, has generated some reasonable demand ahead of the January 30th launch. In addition, I am optimistic about the positivity that the BlackBerry 10 is receiving from carriers

The target market has been prepared beforehand

Also mentioned was RIM's strategy of having 120 enterprise and government customers extensively test the BB10 ahead of launch, thus allowing preparation by one of the key markets critical to Blackberry 10 success. As January draws near, I am getting the feeling that there will be a more positive sentiment regarding RIM and the blackberry 10 platform in the news media, as more and more analysts see the very strong effort and priority that Thorsten Heins and his team have made over the past year to make the BB10 launch a successful one.

I am also impressed by Research In Motion's strategy. The handset maker knows very well that it has been fenced out of the consumer market. Even a layman's brand switching analysis shows that the average consumer would rather stick to Apple or Samsung as opposed to trying out the BlackBerry 10. With this in mind, Research In Motion has targeted the enterprise market.

Here its hopes are high, albeit not as high relative to other handset makers. Most analysts have pegged a 30 percent success rate for the BB10. In a clever attempt to increase its chances of securing this market, Research In Motion has already rolled out the BlackBerry10 for more than 120 enterprise and government customers ahead of the official launch. This will give these high tier customers the opportunity to extensively test the BB10 software and devices ahead of the official launch.

Why do I view this move in positive light? These valued customers will be allowed to adapt to some of the new features in the BB10, making adaptation seamless at the wake of the official launch. Similarly, I believe that this will be an opportunity for the select customers to sample some of the features that make the BB10 distinguishable from the BB7.

I would like to hear your thoughts on this article and whether you agree or disagree with it. Personally, I feel a lot more positive regarding RIM's future outlook and the probability of a successful BB10 launch.