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Research In Motion (RIMM +4.2%) is finally doing something many pundits and marketing execs long...

  • Wednesday, January 30, 10:30 AM ET
    Research In Motion (RIMM +4.2%) is finally doing something many pundits and marketing execs long advised it to: changing the company's name to BlackBerry. Going forward, the company will trade under the symbol BBRY on the NASDAQ, and BB on the Toronto exchange. Thorsten Heins made the announcement at RIM's BB10 event, which is getting underway. (live blog)
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This news story has 25 comments:

  •  
    Name changes are decoration.

    Net revenue growth is what is really important.
    30 Jan, 10:35 AM Reply Like
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    Yes Deep, and let's hope they don't do a Consignia (= the UK's Post Office) and spend billions on logo and decor changes, only to be forced to change back again, as all they'd done was totally confuse everyone! I never did discover whether the directors who came up with that one, had their bonuses cut...
    2 Feb, 09:53 AM Reply Like
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    Changing the name to BlackBerry is a good idea...
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    ...for 2002.
    2 Feb, 10:14 AM Reply Like
  •  
    share price showing big drop today.
    30 Jan, 10:46 AM Reply Like
  •  
    I told you so !
    30 Jan, 11:17 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Name is important...coca cola, MacDonald's
    30 Jan, 11:21 AM Reply Like
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    More people know what a Blackberry is than know what Research in Motion is. It is all about the brand and public recognition. In theory, when Avis Budget Group changed its ticker to (CAR), more people and investors would automatically know somewhat what the company does and many invest in it.
    30 Jan, 11:39 AM Reply Like
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    I agree. Mostly people that invest in the stock market know what Research In Motion/RIMM is. I like the name change. It represents a new start... a re-fresh. Why not? It won't hurt at all. Only the Apple fan boys are criticizing the ticker symbol change.
    30 Jan, 04:50 PM Reply Like
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    I am an (AAPL) fan boy and not criticizing.
    30 Jan, 08:59 PM Reply Like
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    I assume their new creative direct, Alicia Keys inspired the name change. The BB10 launch seemed more like fluff than a turnaround catalyst.
    30 Jan, 12:58 PM Reply Like
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    Why don't you explain what they did wrong and/or not say or say during the presentation this morning to make you conclude that the launch was fluff? The real catalyst is the marketing on TV, print and digital.
    30 Jan, 05:02 PM Reply Like
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    Not necessarily. When Nortel started advertising on TV, that was the beginning of their fall.
    30 Jan, 09:02 PM Reply Like
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    Substance is what prevents a stock from tumbling 15% in two days. Clearly, they have none of it.
    31 Jan, 09:46 AM Reply Like
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    When a product's name becomes so closely associated with the type of product it is, the identification factor becomes significant. My phone is a blackberry-style phone, and I got it because it was a blackberry-style phone (but I'm very cheap, and didn't want to pay for a real Blackberry).

    "Research In Motion" might have been a nice name for the company in the beginning, but since Blackberry is now the most recognizable product they make, it makes more sense to name the company after the product. People who have positive association with "Blackberry" phones are thus more likely to be favorably inclined towards the "Blackberry" company.

    (For historians, "Frigidaire" was originally known as "Guardian Frigerator Company." This is back in 1916. The product was so popular as a "refrigerator" that in 1919 the company changed its name to (simply) Frigidaire. And now, when we want something cold to drink, we go to the "fridge" to get a can of coke (or whatever your favorite cold beverage may be).
    30 Jan, 02:14 PM Reply Like
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    Not sure what's in a name here...

    If you already know phones, the Net, or the telecom/electronics market, then you know who RIM is. I suppose that the new brand value is useful for anyone who's been living under a rock, and wouldn't have been able to identify RIMM/RIM and associate them with their Blackberry products otherwise.

    ie.
    The flagship consumer and business products are named and already very well-branded as Blackberry (TM)...So since nothing changes on that front, I'm not sure why the expense of a rebrand and legal name-change is at all necessary or even fiscally prudent at this point. A spin-off, would have been a different story of course.

    BTW: All the branding around the word "refrigeration" arose from the mechanical process of "refrigeration" - a word derived from the self-explanatory root-word "frigid"
    31 Jan, 05:50 AM Reply Like
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    It can work both ways, Joseph; I once worked for Hoover Universal, who manufactured car seats, being an offshoot of that vacuum cleaner producer. Then there's the UK Post Office's disastrous decision to change its name to Consignia, only to then revert, having confused most of its customers. This apparently cost them £4 billion, so name changing isn't something to be taken lightly...
    2 Feb, 10:01 AM Reply Like
  •  
    About time they changed the name.
    30 Jan, 02:44 PM Reply Like
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    For all those lunatics who enjoy comparing Nokia to RIM:
    Nokia is way more than Lumia; RIM, however, doesn't exist without Blackberry. I hope that fact is pretty clear by now... :-P
    30 Jan, 03:19 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Will that reasoning also apply if "BlackBerry" (inc.) becomes more than a smartphone manufacturer....Extending itself into a larger ecosystem for communications, networked devices, and professional/enterprise services...as I believe is the blue-sky projection?

    How does the term "BlackBerry" suitably represent the varied business and research activities of say...QNX?
    31 Jan, 05:49 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Picking up a phone February 5th ..... they look great.
    30 Jan, 08:27 PM Reply Like
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    RIMM drops 12+% the day it releases the OS that was supposed to be the saving grace for the company. If today is any indicator, will we see single digit stock prices in RIMM's near future? Or is this just investors overreacting to some minor complaints with an otherwise sound OS and phone?

    Personally, I don't think BB10 is going to be able to compete with Android or iOS, and now that Nokia has a corner on the Windows OS, I see BB10 as 4th in line at best.

    Curious as to what anyone else is thinking.
    31 Jan, 06:11 AM Reply Like
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    Dunno why folks are commenting on the drop in share price. One wonders if these people are watching the action in other technology stocks, which have been following precisely the same pattern.

    Helpful tip: if you are only watching the action in two or three stocks, perhaps you aren't paying attention as closely as you think you are, and the conclusions you may be drawing are likely to be full of noise and distraction.

    Invest in companies - not the daily movements in equity prices - or trade, but don't confuse the two.
    31 Jan, 06:59 AM Reply Like
  •  
    kmi, if you own the stock that's tumbling, its never fun to hear about it. I agree that its best to buy the company, not the product. But if that's how you invest, maybe you shouldn't play with a company that can lose 20% value after a mediocre product launch.
    31 Jan, 10:03 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Check the options activity. There is the reason for the price level swings.
    31 Jan, 02:21 PM Reply Like
  •  
    February call options are falling, and put options are rising. Might be a bad month for (RIMM).
    31 Jan, 05:10 PM Reply Like
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