Everyone knows RIM stock has been beat up lately. Completely FUBAR. It's to the point where I'm regularly fielding emails from folks asking me about it. And in Skyping with Kevin recently, he's seeing the exact same thing. So this post is all about the stock.

The first thing I want to make absolutely sure people (mostly newbies) understand is that RIM isn't "cheap" just because it trades at $10ish while Apple trades at over $500. People who don't understand stocks fall into this trap, so I'd like to prevent that from happening to CrackBerry readers.

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Despite the fact that NFC is still a growing technology, there has been quick adoption of it in various parts of the world and one company that has proven they'll be making use of it whenever and wherever possible is RIM. A new venture between Research In Motion, Orange and SITA in cooperation with the Toulouse-Blagnac airport in France will take 50 frequent flyers and have them partake in NFC trial testing throughout the airport. As noted in the press release:

"With NFC technology, the mobile phone simplifies the passenger’s journey through the airport, says Jean-Michel Vernhes, CEO of Toulouse-Blagnac airport. It now becomes a personalized tool displaying the right information at the right time. It also enables passengers to better manage their journey, so they can choose how they spend their time at the airport. For T-B airport, the approach is to give to flyers access to leading-edge technologies that enhance and facilitate their experience at the airport in providing new Premium services."

The trial testing of NFC in the Toulouse-Blagnac airport is just a starting point for further NFC usage within airports as a whole. The trial testing information will ultimately be put to use in an upcoming smartphone application planned for 2013-2014.

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Although there has been plenty of shuffling of the ranks happening within RIM over the past little while, a rather significant change has just been confirmed by RIM themselves to the Wall Street Journal. Research In Motion's head of Global Sales, Patrick Spence, will be exiting after a 14 year long stay with the company.

I can confirm that Patrick Spence, Head of Global Sales for Research In Motion, has resigned following 14 years of service. Patrick will be taking on a leadership position in a different industry. The sales function will report directly into Kristian Tear, our newly appointed COO when he starts this summer. In the interim, the sales function will report to CEO Thorsten Heins.

Patrick, who joined RIM in 1998 and helped launch RIM’s Inter@ctive Pager 950 to the masses, will be taking on a new role elsewhere in the technology world. Where, exactly was not mentioned at this time but given the fact he maintained a high level of brand evangelism throughout his career at RIM it's certainly a departure that will be viewed as a loss.

Source: WSJ

On Wednesday I had the pleasure of attending the 2nd annual Application Developers Conference, put on by Scotia Capital. There was a big focus on BlackBerry at this event, considering that it was held in Toronto, and what I'd like to do here is report on the main highlights I took away from the event.

I applaud Gus Papageorgiou, the analyst at Scotia Capital who organized the event. Nobody was hosting an event for the financial community to learn about the investment opportunities in the mobile app market. He designed a great lineup of speakers and put on a fantastic conference. I sincerely appreciate him inviting me to attend.

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RIM has been granted another patent that shows off an inovative BlackBerry keyboard. The patent, filed in 2009, is for an Angular keyboard for a handheld mobile communication device. The hardware keys in the design are angled toward the right and left from the center line in order to increase typing accuracy. It's hard to say if this would be helpful since most BlackBerry owners are darn good typists as it is, but it's still a cool idea. It's not the first time we've seen some funky patents come out of RIM, and as we know they are not abandoning the physical keyboard, we may see some more interesting designs like this down the road.

Source: USPTO Via: Engadget

Thorsten Heins has been CEO of RIM for only 3 months. But that 3 months has seemed like an eternity as we waited for updates on BlackBerry 10, restructuring of the company, potential partnerships, and long-awaited new executive blood. Well, yesterday RIM hired two new senior executives. The company finally has a chief marketing officer and a singular chief operating officer.

There have been a lot of complaints from the peanut gallery (media, analysts, casual observers) on the speed of the recruitment process. People were forming conclusions that Thorsten wasn’t doing things fast enough. But I’ve been around public companies as an analyst long enough to see a wide range of executive movement. Recruiting senior executives is hardly ever a fast process. Do you really want it to be fast? Or do you want the right amount of attention put on hiring strong candidates?

So let’s turn to the guys that Thorsten hand-picked.

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Press Release

TAMPA, FLORIDA--(Marketwire - May 9, 2012) - DISA Mission Partner Conference -- Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) today announced DoD-wide approval for the use of BlackBerry® 7 smartphones. Working with U.S. Army and Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) sponsors and partners, BlackBerry 7 smartphones have undergone successful testing through Army labs leading to a subsequent listing on DISA's Unified Communications Approved Product List (UCAPL).

The approval allows all DoD customers to use the following BlackBerry 7 smartphones on DoD networks:

• BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 (touch screen with keyboard)
• BlackBerry Torch 9810 (touch screen with slide out keyboard)
• BlackBerry Torch 9850 and 9860 (full screen touch screen)
• BlackBerry Curve 9360 (keyboard)

"The Army introduced a wide range of new apps and capabilities for their BlackBerry users last year, and these new BlackBerry 7 smartphones will now enable Army users, and all DoD users, to experience an even greater level of performance on new smartphones that include features such as voice activated universal search, Near Field Communications, Augmented Reality, and Social Feeds 2.0 just to name a few," said Scott Totzke, SVP, BlackBerry Security Group at RIM. "RIM's unwavering focus on security and RIM's achievement of key security certifications including FIPS 140-2 validation and Common Criteria EAL4+ accreditation continue to be very important to many of our DoD and enterprise customers, but leveraging the full power of BlackBerry smartphones is also important as it helps them realize the full potential of their investment in the BlackBerry platform."

For more information about BlackBerry 7 smartphones and features, please visit: www.blackberry.com/bb7.

Press Release

RIM Introduces the BlackBerry Curve 9320-A Stylish, New Smartphone for the Socially-Connected

WATERLOO, ONTARIO - May 9, 2012) - Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) today announced a stylish new smartphone for socially-connected customers. The new BlackBerry® Curve™ 9320 smartphone features all the core BlackBerry messaging and social-centric features that keep people connected, and it offers global 3G connectivity backed by long battery life to allow users to make the most of their day.

"The new BlackBerry Curve 9320 is designed to make it incredibly easy for users to stay socially-connected," said Carlo Chiarello, EVP, Smartphone Business at Research In Motion. "The new BlackBerry Curve 9320 will be especially popular with customers upgrading to a smartphone for the first time and existing Curve customers looking for a step up in speed and functionality."

The BlackBerry Curve 9320 has everything a customer needs to stay in touch with the people and things that matter most to them. It features a dedicated BBM™ key, bringing the power of RIM's popular mobile social network up in an instant, as well as the best keyboard in its class for quick and easy typing. It includes a built-in FM radio, allowing users to tune into their favorite local stations, and listening to the FM radio does not require a data plan or use data services. Designed to allow both 3G connectivity and long battery life, customers can get up to 7 hours of talk time or up to 30 hours of FM radio listening or music playback with
headphones.

Customers can easily interact with their social network in real time, using preloaded apps for Facebook® and Twitter®. The new Social Feeds 2.0 app is also preloaded, allowing users to post updates to multiple social networks simultaneously and capture updates from news
sources (RSS), social apps and instant messaging apps all in one consolidated view. The integrated camera includes a flash and supports video recording, and pictures can be tagged with their location thanks to the smartphone's built-in GPS.

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It looks like RIM CEO Thorstein Heins wasn't kidding when he said he was close to signing a deal to bring aboard a new CMO. Today RIM has announced the addition of both a COO and CMO to its leadership team. Kristian Tear (formerly of Sony) and Frank Boulben (formerly of LightSquared) are joining RIM as the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing Officer respectively. It looks like the two will make a great addition to RIM and help lead the way to great things from BlackBerry 10!

Press Release

Wireless Industry Veterans Kristian Tear and Frank Boulben to Join RIM

WATERLOO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - May 8, 2012) - Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) today announced key additions to its executive leadership team with the hiring of Kristian Tear as Chief Operating Officer and Frank Boulben as Chief Marketing Officer.

With deep experience in the mobile computing industry, Mr. Tear and Mr. Boulben will complement RIM's existing executive team as the company continues to focus on expanding its global customer base and prepares for the launch of its new BlackBerry 10 platform.

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Last night, somewhere between the CrackBerry podcast that we recorded, and calling it a night at 4am, we had a discussion about RIM's progress in hiring a chief marketing officer. In a nutshell, we think the job just got easier for whoever takes it. They've got a clear message and a damn sexy OS.

The CMO job is going to be critical for RIM to deliver a strong and consistent message going forward. Thorsten did an amazing job here in Orlando, but it will need to continue and expand beyond him.

That said, it seems to me that with the announcement RIM made at BlackBerry World and BlackBerry Jam, the company is starting to look cool again. Yeah, we've been reading the comments from listeners on last night's podcast. We know the keyboard "swipe to delete" feature isn't a RIM invention. Doesn't matter. We're just thrilled to see RIM catching up in many areas and then innovating in other areas.

Yesterday at the press session with Thorsten, he said they were close to hiring a CMO but wouldn't elaborate on it since nothing was signed. So I wonder if the new candidate told RIM he or she wanted to wait until after BlackBerry World in order to make a decision on the job.

Taking the CMO job at RIM could easily be viewed as a career gamble by a marketing guru. A gamble that would seem less risky after seeing the new OS, and being handed a clear marketing message that works.

BlackBerry creates success. That one, simple, clear, effective message is something that RIM has been lacking for a long time. The future CMO gets to walk into a position where not everything needs to be rebuilt from scratch.

We got a great tip on Twitter today courtesy of acolagro who sent in a link to a pretty cool post from reddit. The post is from a user called rim950 and is titled IAmA former RIM/BlackBerry Employee (2000-2006) - AMaA and is basically an open Q&A for the former RIM employee. While we're itching to check out the Ask RIM Anything You Want session at BlackBerry world, this is a pretty good warmup. There is great stuff in the thread including questions on the browser, the BlackBerry brand, BlackBerry in the media, BBM and plenty more -- we're not sure this is something that RIM would want out there, but it is. It's really a great read (and still growing) and lends some cool insight into things from a former RIM employee. It's too bad rim950 left RIM before CrackBerry started in 2007, or some of this just may have shown up in the CrackBerry Forums. Keep reading for some of the best Q&A, then head over to reddit to get in on the discussion.

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Over the past few weeks there have been plenty of talks surrounding the future of RIM and what exactly to do about their current situation. Many reports suggested that RIM was seeking financial council on how to further proceed and today Reuters is reporting they've now taken on council from Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP to help oversee a potential restructuring plan, possible selling of assets, licensing of patents and joint ventures.

Reports previously suggested that RIM was working with some of the world's larger carriers to create a system that would open up their network to them, essentially allowing non-BlackBerry devices and their data to be routed through the RIM NOC and offering some of RIM's added value services to those devices such as BlackBerry Messenger. These ideas were originally brought forth by former Research In Motion co-chief executive Jim Balsillie and said to of have been shot down internally by RIM's board due to fear of dilution of the BlackBerry brand.

With the news of RIM now taking on council from Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP it seems as though those plans may once again be rising from the inside, for better or worse. Realistically, the ideas that Jim Balsillie had weren't all that bad -- they made sense and would certainly help keep RIM from going any further into the red if adopted. Whether or not those plans will be put into action remains a mystery though as RIM may choose a different path.

Source: Reuters

[Youtube link for mobile viewing]

Press Release

RIM Introduces a New, Easy to Use and Easy to Own BlackBerry Smartphone for India

Sleek, stylish, affordable BlackBerry Curve 9220 puts Indians in control of their social life

India - Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced its most affordable BlackBerry® 7 smartphone for customers in India. The new BlackBerry® Curve™ 9220 smartphone offers all the market-leading BlackBerry messaging and social-centric features that people love in India.  Designed to be easy to use and easy to own, this compact and sleek smartphone provides many conveniences and applications to help keep users connected to the people and information that matter most to them. It also offers the longest lasting battery life yet in a BlackBerry Curve model, allowing users to make the most of their day.  

“India is a very important market for RIM and we are extremely proud and excited to officially unveil and launch the new BlackBerry Curve 9220 for the first time here in India,” said Carlo Chiarello, SVP, Smartphone Business at Research In Motion.

“The new BlackBerry Curve 9220 offers a unique mobile experience that young Indians will love thanks to its affordable pricing and unmatched messaging and social connectivity features,” said Sunil Dutt, Managing Director for India at RIM.

The BlackBerry Curve 9220 has everything a user needs to stay socially connected throughout the day. It even features a dedicated BBM™ key, bringing the power of RIM’s popular mobile social network up in an instant. The Facebook® for BlackBerry and Twitter® for BlackBerry apps are included as well as Social Feeds, which allows users to post updates to multiple social applications simultaneously and capture updates from news sources (RSS), social apps and instant messaging apps all in one consolidated view.

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While Oracle is in a hefty battle against the likes of Google now, there was once a time when they had played with the idea of seeking to purchase RIM and even Palm to take on Google and Apple. As noted by Oracle Corp Chief Executive Larry Ellison, Oracle spent quite a bit of time weighing out their options only to ultimately decide that it was a bad idea.

An interesting situation to say the least especially when you consider this all supposedly happened before HP took over Palm. We know now that RIM is open to options but it makes you wonder what would have happened if Oracle approached RIM back when Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie were still heading up the day-to-day operations. Probably for the best anyway. In this case Oracle doesn't know all and OracleBerry just doesn't have a nice ring to it.

Source: Reuters

The motions begin behind the scenes long before something ever hits the market for consumers, and it appears as though RIM has a desktop phone dock of sorts in the works for BlackBerry devices. This dock would allow you, while at your desk, to place your device inside and have access to your contact book, phone and more.

Allowing you to use your cell phone as a desk line is something Enterprise customers could definitely find good use for. The patent has been in filing for a while and of course we have no idea when this would surface, if it does at all. Always good to see things happening behind the scenes and here's to hoping for a matching desk dock for our new BlackBerry 10 devices!

Source: USPTO; via: Engadget