Just Like in Hockey, Balsillie Would Rather Play Offense

Balsillie Plays Offense "I play offense. There's no glory in defense," said hockey fan and RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie in an interview with Bloomberg published today.

The company is currently trying to overcome the momentum that Apple's iPhone 3G gained after selling over a million units in its first three days on sale. Their plan is to accelerate product introductions, starting with the Bold and the Thunder, and increase advertisement spending to grab some of the consumer market. "Our job is to fully capitalize on the opportunity before us," said Balsillie. The other CEO, Mike Lazaridis, said, "We're trying to get people to say, 'What is that?' and 'I want one of those.'"

Experts say that RIM's stock could rise to more than $170 in the coming year, and more than two-thirds recommend buying the stock. Others are less than enthusiastic, though: Roger Etner of Nielsen said, "BlackBerry still has the lead when it comes to the very narrowly defined segment of business e-mail. With everything else, the iPhone has a huge lead." Competition is nothing but good for the consumer, so we should see a lot of innovation from both companies in the near future.