Asymcar 13: Pilgrimages and Fundamental Evil

On continental trips, diesel engines and autobahn speeds, pilgrimages to Porsche and BMW’s brand meccas. How to understand the world through toy cars, from Matchbox to Hot Wheels, Siku, Majorette to Tomica. On the business of car distribution, “channel stuffing” and the origins of state franchise regulation. Reflections on Apple’s routing around now-defunct computer retail channels via its highly … Continue reading “Asymcar 13: Pilgrimages and Fundamental Evil”

The parable of RIM

Here are the highlights from RIM’s latest quarter: 14.1 million BlackBerry smartphones shipped, 13 million sold through 150k PlayBook shipped with sell-through slightly higher. 800k PlayBooks shipped so far. BlackBerry subscriber base up to 75 million High growth cited for U.K., France, South Africa, Mexico and Argentina, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. RIM is the #1 … Continue reading “The parable of RIM”

RIM and the lamentation of the analyst

RIM shipped 10.6 million Blackberries and 200,000 PlayBooks in the last quarter. Management noted that their sell-through was significantly higher for Blackberry (13.7 million) but seems to be very weak for PlayBook as the prior quarter saw 500k units shipped. Additional PlayBook units this quarter probably mostly went into new channels in Asia and there … Continue reading “RIM and the lamentation of the analyst”

Capital.bg | Nobody wants to buy RIM

Технологии и наука | Хорацио Дедиу: Никой не иска да купи Research In Motion RIM – Капитал. My thanks again to Andrian Georgiev for interview questions [Bulgarian] related to RIM. My answers to his questions (in English) are below: Q: What should RIM do to reinvent itself? Should it stray from its business-oriented image? RIM … Continue reading “Capital.bg | Nobody wants to buy RIM”

Is RIM's management the cause of its failure?

“Jim and Mike brought the company to where it is … which is part of the biggest problem they’re facing,” said Charter Equity analyst Ed Snyder, who has covered RIM since its public listing in 1997, two years before the BlackBerry was launched. “They’re stuck in the past. They know what worked and keep playing … Continue reading “Is RIM's management the cause of its failure?”

Apple, RIM and HTC captured 75% of mobile phone operating profits in Q1

I produced two alternate views of the primary mobile phone brands in terms of volumes sold and operating profit in Q1. These views[1] allow a comparison by categorized competitors. I grouped dedicated smartphone vendors (SMART) vs. diversified and used color coding for profitability (blue colors indicate loss-making vendors). The same view is drawn for profitability. … Continue reading “Apple, RIM and HTC captured 75% of mobile phone operating profits in Q1”

Understanding RIM's tablet platform app strategy

Yesterday RIM reported their quarterly earnings. The results were mixed to slightly negative and the shares were down 10% in after-hours trading. I’ll work through the smartphone market data at a later time but for now what I want to focus on is RIM’s strategy which really means understanding RIM’s intentions or their approach to … Continue reading “Understanding RIM's tablet platform app strategy”