RIM Stock Falls Below Book Value
RIM shares dip below book value for the first time since '02.
It's been a rough year for Research In Motion and it doesn't look like it's going to get easier anytime soon. For the first time in nine years, the company's stock this week fell below book value.
BusinessWeek reports that, according to data compiled at the end of last year, RIM's per-share book value stands at $18.92. Yesterday, shares in New York dropped to $18.66, representing the first time since 2002 that the company's share price has been below book value. At roughly 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, November 2, RIM stock stood at $19.67. By 10:41 this morning, this number had fallen to $18.34, and if analysts are to be believed, it's only going to decrease. BW cites Veritas Investment Research Corp analyst Neeraj Monga as saying RIM shares could drop below $10 within two months.
RIM made headlines last month when it suffered a service outage that affected users around the globe. The company managed to restore services after three days of problems but share prices have suffered since. Once a bright and shining star in the smartphone industry, RIM has struggled to keep up with the likes of Google and Apple. However, the company is optimistic, expecting strong sales of its Bold, Torch and Curve handsets for the next quarter and planning an update for its PlayBook tablet in February. The update, originally scheduled for release this past summer, will bring native email, calendar, and memo features, along with other PIM functions that have been missing since the launch in April.

how the hell dont they have this already?
Does not give me confidence to purchase an item such as this.
IF they had given it android capability by summer
IF they had allowed things such as netflix
- They may have had 3 of these in my house instead of none - the original ipad in my opinion is still far superior than this unit, not because of hardware, but because of software support
IF YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE IT IN THE MOBILE WORLD, YOU GOTTA MAKE IT FOR EVERYONE TO USE, NOT JUST YOUR OWN BLACKBERRY CUSTOMER BASE - THIS WAS A PRODUCT DESTINED TO FAILURE DUE TO LACK OF UPDATES FROM RIM
there's the reason ;P
i always thought the way to make it was not screw your coustomers, dont make a mediocre product, and give us what we want.
This is exactly why Apple is so successful!
RIM initially wanted the PlayBook to be a companion device for people who already owned Blackberry smartphones. The idea was that if you were in the airport, on a plane, traveling for business, etc., you could tether the two via Blackberry Bridge (similar to Bluetooth) and work on emails and documents and the like on a bigger screen.
However, the company soon realised that by targeting only Blackberry owners, it was cutting itself off from a fairly massive number of potential customers. A few months before it launched the PlayBook, RIM came out and said (paraphrasing here): "It will work great as a standalone device as well as a companion device. It will be great and everyone should buy it." Addressing concerns that users who didn't own a Blackberry wouldn't have native email, calendar, memo, other PIM functions (these being provided by the BlackBerry when the two are tethered), RIM said it would release an update to add these at a later date. So far it hasn't.
never? lol
I remember when Apple launched its first Ipod, it could only be connected to a Mac toy-thingy. That cut Apple off 95% of potential market. Too bad RIM did not learn from Apple's mistake, they are paying for it with their stock price.
On the other hand, this could be a deliberate sabotage of the stock value, RIM has enough money to buy off quite a few shares especially at this price, or in order to increase % holding by some major shareholders.
stupidest name ever for a device...
sounds like a nsfw innuendo
u get what u get rim... u get what u get
I wouldn't count RIM out just yet, people seem to forget that Apple went from near bankruptcy to the largest tech company over the last decade.
Companies in this market can change their horizons on a single successful product.
I don't really understand all the hating going on for RIM in these comments.
Yes blackberry's don't have all the fun games, but they were also never advertised as such, the point of a blackberry was to make people in the business world more connectable, yet maintain the company or individual's privacy and security... Quite frankly the blackberry is still the #1 device from a company perspective.
If security means anything to you (as a general user, it probably doesn't, which is fine) then the blackberry is still the optimum phone.
Multimedia wise it will never live up to the iPhone, it wasn't designed to... Web browsing is slower (actually anything via the 3g connection will be), not because the phone can't keep up hardware wise, but because EVERYTHING IS ENCRYPTED. You go onto Google, your browsing is encrypted, you watch a YouTube video, its encrypted, you write an email, encrypted... Overkill for a general user? Yes, definately, but that is RIM's market, that's what makes them unique, that's why businesses will continue to use them, and why they will survive.
I haven't heard a government complain to apple yet about how they couldn't eavesdrop on their population's data communications, that in itself is a massive indication of the success of RIM's security infrastructure and why people trust them (and why they will always have a specific clientele that will come back again, and again).
If the iPhone and android's key to success is fun & games, then Blackberry's key is security, and they have no competition in that area, not even close.
If RIM continues with this model they'll go the way of the Palm devices and dodo bird.
They're just pain in the asses - to be honest. Tiny screen, overly complicated and slow menu's, lack of apps (at least compared to iOS & Android), and finally, they aren't needed in the business world anymore.
They also lack major media uses that other phones and devices use and have. Who watches Netflix on a Blackberry?
Actually, their keyboard is simply the best of any device out there. RIM has a lot going for them but they just aren't oriented towards a consumer market. You mean to tell me you watch netflix on an iphone? If you do, RIM should focus somewhere else.
Many of us, including myself have been more product and I am just one person.
When the update comes out... it'll be "gee - took you long enough". And people wonder why iPad is still kicking everyone's butts.