RIM says carrier relationship will save it from Palm�s fate
Research In Motion Ltd. is counting on its relationships with 150 carriers to avoid the fate of another smartphone pioneer that fell on hard times—Palm Inc.
RIM’s BlackBerry 10, due to be introduced Jan. 30, has been compared by analysts to Palm’s doomed WebOS, a smartphone operating system unveiled four years ago this week. The technology drew rave reviews at the Consumer Electronics Show and sparked a stock rally for Palm, only to fizzle months later.
Like Palm, RIM rebuilt its latest operating system to compete with Apple Inc.’s iPhone after years of market-share declines. RIM also has received positive reviews for the changes, sending its stock up more than 80 per cent since late September.
The difference this time is RIM has the support of carriers around the world, said Frank Boulben, chief marketing officer for the Waterloo, Ontario-based company. Palm relied purely on Sprint Nextel Corp., the No. 3 mobile-phone service in the U.S.
“They launched with one carrier worldwide,” Boulben said in an interview. “We are currently in the labs of 150 carriers around the world. We are not comparing things that are comparable.”
While Palm eventually added more carriers when the WebOS- based Pre phone was sold in Europe, the decision to debut with just one carrier in the U.S. was a “really, really bad choice,” said Alexander Peterc, an analyst at Exane BNP Paribas in London, who has a neutral rating on RIM. “RIM has wider carrier distribution going for it.”
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RIM says carrier relationship will save it from Palm