[Homo Erectus]

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.”

Read more:

RIM says carrier relationship will save it from Palm

[BergerKing]

Well, while Web OS was a good effort, their hardware was the Yugo of smartphones. Tiny, hard to use, tended to overheat and just quit. Not myb opinion, I knew a few who used it when everyone was expecting it to be the iPhone and BlackBerry killer. I tried it in store, and while the OS was pleasant, the tiny keyboard(s) just sucked. When the Veer sold worse than the Kin, they knew they were going down in flames.

RIM needs to get their hardware on as many carriers as possible, and have quality, smooth user experience. Word of mouth can be a big boon if they make it as available as they can. People wanted handsets that they would have to change carriers to get, but decided that they could live without.

[GTiLeo]

Palm also didn't have the cash on hand to push WebOS from a marketign stand point, from what i understand they had a few hundred million in cash on hand while RIM has almost 3 billion and are working on cuttign costs and saving more to push BB10. another thing that RIM has over Palm is 79 million subscribers which customers that have gone else where that are more then willing to come back to the brand when RIm releases a competitive product which they are doing with BB10.

RIM will not be another Palm story and it is a shame that Palm is used as a referance to what RIM is doing

[Masahiro]

They're still comparing RIM to Palm? I thought the media was past that by now...

[GTiLeo]

They're still comparing RIM to Palm? I thought the media was past that by now...

atleast they are passed comparing them to Nortel

[Thunderbuck]

They're still comparing RIM to Palm? I thought the media was past that by now...

On the surface, it's an easy comparison, and much of the media is lazy.

WebOS had some nice ideas, tbh. And the argument could be made that the Playbook OS shamelessly cribbed a few of them. But, as you say, there are very few real comparisons to be made. RIM has cash on hand, they have BIS, they have BES (MDM is ultimately a big part of RIM's future), and they have tens of millions more existing customers than Palm could have ever dreamed of.

[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

On the surface, it's an easy comparison, and much of the media is lazy.

WebOS had some nice ideas, tbh. And the argument could be made that the Playbook OS shamelessly cribbed a few of them. But, as you say, there are very few real comparisons to be made. RIM has cash on hand, they have BIS, they have BES (MDM is ultimately a big part of RIM's future), and they have tens of millions more existing customers than Palm could have ever dreamed of.

And over 150 Carriers as opposed to one mid sized carrier.

[Dapper37]

Palm had one launch partner, Sprint no less! The question is not, is RIM the next Palm. The question should have been how can anyone expect a phone company to make it with one launch partner, the #3 in the US no less. Then it's clear the smartphone world has changed and the days of the palm launch are history! Never to be repeated. But like Thunder said, the media are lazy!

[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

Does anyone know how many carriers iphone 5 launched on just for interests sake

[Superfly_FR]

RIM�s most loyal business customers will give BlackBerry 10 an initial boost. That could account for 5 million to 10 million units in the first full quarter BlackBerry 10 is on sale, Exane BNP Paribas�s Peterc said.

Yep, and then be ready for the snowball. I believe Peterc has not tried BB10 yet, therefore the "metrics only" analysis. This will change in a very short time.
Confidence.

[Skeevecr]

Does anyone know how many carriers iphone 5 launched on just for interests sake

One per country rather than just one small carrier.

[donmateo]

IDK why anyone even took this worth a grain of salt, anyone with half a brain realizes there's so many underlying differences that make the situation worlds apart.

[RubberChicken76]

Poor WebOS. I loved it!

But agree with the points. The "RIM is just like Palm" argument is tired and superficial

[jegs2]

Poor WebOS. I loved it!

But agree with the points. The "RIM is just like Palm" argument is tired and superficial

Though they could well suffer the same fate.

[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

Though they could well suffer the same fate.

RIM could suffer the same fate as many others. No need to compare them to another just because they also made mobile phones and failed