UBS: Research In Motion Plans to Launch Four New BlackBerries this Year

Research In Motion Ltd.’s (RIMM) 3G BlackBerry could be certified as early as this month with a release to follow soon after, but a U.S. launch at AT&T (T) won’t come until late in the summer or fall given the carriers plans for Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) 3G iPhone, UBS said in a report. This could bode well for RIM as other operators battle it out with the iPhone, analyst Jeffrey Fan told clients.

He believes at least four new BlackBerries are slated for this fiscal year: the 3G 9000 series, a clamshell version, a 3G World BlackBerry, and a Nextel iDEN/WiFi device.

Mr. Fan said:

This broader portfolio (and even broader if the touch screen BlackBerry ships) should help enterprise upgrades as well as broader mass market appeal.

He does not expect any major product launches at the company’s upcoming Wireless Enterprise Symposium, but said more details on its BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 and 4.6 operating system could emerge. The analyst also anticipates RIM to discuss its plans for leveraging its platform beyond e-mail.

Mr. Fan continues to rate RIM shares a “buy” with a $165 price target.

Comments

[wallawallabingbang]

RIMM@400 $$ a share, p/e, 75.

Money going down the drain.

Apple's on your trail...

[digivision]

I don't get it, how can a company like RIMM with a single product line(smart phones) be worth $165 ??
in about a year Apple has reached almost the same market hare as RIMM
and it's their first attempt , if I was a RIMM exec I would be very very worried

[CHO CHA]

No way RIMM can compete for the consumer and small business $ if the wireless company's are charging more than double for the data packages.

[Brewer]

Most investors are 'wintarded', so the RIMM looks good to them. (Shhhh, guys, windoze is only a bad copy of Mac. Average Joe is catching on to this despite what he has been told, or perhaps on account of it.) How is the Bold going to compete with the browser on the iPhone when it has no touch screen, and it's so small and horizontal? On the iPhone you just point at what you want to enlarge. How is that going to work with the pointer controller on the bold blackberry? Business users want iPod features, iTunes store, and will want iPhone apps as they appear before the 'bold' even ships. Some of them actually have listened to music before and might learn something from a podcast, etc...

Bold takes more than a few visual cues from iPhone, looks as much like an iPhone as possible but with a geeky 80's style keyboard. IMHO it will fail miserably. It also will come along later than the 2nd gen iPhone.

[bryanz]

"Business users want iPod features, iTunes store, and will want iPhone apps as they appear before the 'bold' even ships. "

Business users get what the businesses they work for give them. Why, if I'm in charge of setting up a communications network for 20,000 employees do I care if the device has access to the iTunes store? There are certainly great features on the iPhone that are very cool like the touchscreen and then which-way-am-I-holding... orientation adjustment. But compared to a tactile, wait excuse me - "geeky 80s style" keyboard, most users are more efficient using something that gives responsive feedback.

I'm not bashing the iPhone, it's a great device and as an AAPL long its helped give me some pretty decent returns. However the fan boy frenzy and foaming-at-the-mouth zealotry of some Apple fanatics is simply blinding you to the fact that you're missing out on a company that produces a great product that is widely adopted by both business and consumers. Your failure to realize that the smart phone market growth is by taking market share from simpler phones rather than cannibalizing its own sub-sector is keeping you on the sidelines as a company like RIMM hits all-time highs.

So keep up the good work buying Apple products and making me money. And hell, keep talking bad about everything tech that isn't Apple... while missing out on the ride.

[.crazylegs.]

right on bryanz. you understand that all this bashing of each other isn't necessary given the dynamic growth of the entire market. I own both RIMM and AAPL and believe they will continue to perform very well in the coming years.