Hayweed

102 Comments

    • BlackBerry's New Storm and the Coolness Factor [view article]
      This article is so lame. When did the blackberry get cool except in New York. Most blackberries built before last year look like crap. When apple announced the iphone, Rimm stepped up (copied) the look with some metal/chrome styling. But the phones have remained the same since the pearl and curve came out. Everyone is hyped up on Bold, Pearl Flip, and the Storm, but you can't get them in the US. Why? Problems with the phone pure and simple. Thus if you want to be cool get an iphone. If you want to be a beta tester get a new Rimm product if they ever come out.

      Lastly, anyone see the Verizon storm commerical. Did you see the screenshot of the storm. No you didn't because it is not ready. Vodaphone did show an iphone display that was photoshopped. The racecar driver with the storm showed the verizon multimedia presentation. That was so canned. Coolness can not be manipulated, so dream on.
      Oct 09 05:18 PM
    • Research in Motion's Storm: Why It Matters [view article]
      Problem Rimm has and will have is that they and everyone else is going to compare it to the iPhone. That is where it has to be better or it is an also ran. Right now we know it is bigger, heavier, seems to have some lag issues, and the broswer has been said to be slow. Rimm claims they will have an app store but the Apple app store is now a big deal. I can't see this thing getting much traction. The lack of wifi which you know is Verizon's demand limits the phone. I did love hearing that Rimm's CEO said wifi made the battery life poor. Guess they do not have the tech prowess to put it all together. Oct 09 05:12 PM
    • Research in Motion's Storm: Why It Matters [view article]
      Agreed that this is a big event for Rimm. Problem is that Rimmj's attempt at marketing by leaking spy shots etc is hurting them more than it helps. The fact that the Bold has not been released and now the Storm is coming but is not available is causing new phone buyers of Rimm's products to delay purchases. That means inventory of current phones is stuck which is why the Current Pearl and Curves are being sold for next to nothing. It also allows more people to defect to the iPhone since it is available now.

      Apple does not leak products since it stops current sales. That is why they attempt to hide products until they are released.

      Also the fact that Verizon is advertising a phone that is not available is clearly an act of desperation. NPD states that 30% of iPhone purchasers switched carriers and that 1/2 of those came from Verizon. If Apple sold 6 million iPhones then Verizon lost close to a million customers. While unconfirmed, the ad the other night for the Storm by Verizon was meant to try to hold their customer base in place. It smacked of please don't buy an iPhone we have a new phone coming soon.

      It think it is too late for Rimm. While the phone may initially sell well to the Crackberry crowd, the problems the Storm will have is the following:

      1. Browser will not be as good as the iPhone.
      2. The app store by Apple is way ahead of Rimm and when Rimm launches a store, will they have enough apps.
      3. Rimm lags in music and media. The new claim is we can sync your itunes collection as long as the songs are drm free.
      4. This is generation one and operating system one as opposed to iPhone 2.0 and operating system 2.1 with 2.2 to be released shortly.
      5. Does Rimm have the manpower to constantly upgrade the phone. When apple had the 3g dropped call issue, it was fixed pretty quickly. Since Rimm is having such a hard time getting the Bold released, you have to question their ability to deal with software issues.
      6. Rimm's operating system prior to 4.7 was like dos. It was clunky and archaic. People that know how to use it love it. Everyone else could care less because intuitive software is what people want. Rimm with the storm and bold is caught with trying to make a better user phone while not turning off the current customer base. That is a tough trick.
      7. No wifi is a joke. I have the original iphone but since it has wifi which I have at home, work, most people's houses, starbucks, tons of restaurants and bars, I can use it without constantly using the AT&T data. Verizon wants all the traffifc on their network which seems odd. If the Storm sold 7 million units in 3 months like the iPhone did, do you think Verizon could handle all the traffic. At lease some of the iPhone traffic is moving thru wifi.

      But Rimm fans and fanboy sites will go crazy in the next month, the real question is will the phone draw much in sales when released. That is where I am skeptical.
      Oct 09 08:31 AM
    • iPhone Sales Drastically Surpass Q4 Consensus; Apple Reaches 10m Goal [view article]
      Here is what apple should do at the earnings conference:
      1. Apple should just stop giving guidance and screw the analysts.
      2. Implement a $1 a share dividend which would cost $900 million a year.
      3. Announce that Jonathan Ives and Oppenheimer will take over as co-ceos or that they will run the company (succession plan).
      4. Announce a buy back of stock (maybe 4-5 billion) They announce it like most companies but doubt they ever buy that much stock.
      5. Buy Akami to better control cloud computing and music and tv downloads.

      At a meeting for new products
      1. Drop the 8gb iphone and make a 16 and 32 gb model at $199 and $299 to put the heat on Rimm.
      2. Push the mobile me service and bundle it with the iphone at a discount. More pressure on Rimm. They should advertise the back to my Mac service which is awesome.
      3. Add a dvd player to Apple TV.
      4. Bring out an iTablet and get Fedex on board to use them.
      5. Allow dvd loading like cd loading of music in itunes. Then your apple tv would be super useful.
      6. Add multitouch screens to the laptops.

      Oct 07 01:29 AM
    • Does Apple Need an Enterprise Strategy After All? [view article]
      7.5 million iPhones in one quarter. That is the enterprise strategy. PS that is more than the 6.1 million phones shipped by Rimm. Oct 07 01:06 AM
    • Does Apple Need an Enterprise Strategy After All? [view article]
      IT departments don't want Apple since that would reduce the need for IT people. Budget cuts by management will solve that barrier.

      As for Apple, people (analysts) are convinced that Apple sales will slow dramatically but this is bunk. Apple is a high end retailer that sells to the top 20% of consumers not the bottom 80% think Chevrolet and Asus/Gateway/ and Dell's consumer PCs. Management is in the 20% and what they use at home will begin to make it into work. What executive wants the hassle of virus scans and the crap that happens to PCs.

      Apple owns the over $1,000 computer space. Dell gets twice the revenues of Apple and only half the profit. Apple could cut prices and try to compete on price. Is Porsche going to drop the price of the 911 to compete with Chevrolet. Doubt it. The upper end consumer while not immune to recession, may decrease spending but they will spend money on perceived value. Where is the value add on a dell pc at Walmart.

      A $150 - $230 ipod is not that big of a luxury. That is like filling up your suv 2 or 3 times. In recessions people cut back but would you buy your kid some off brand mp3 player like the Zune which they would throw away or would you buy the leader.

      The iphone at $199 is a steal compared to most of the junk phones for sale.

      As for Rimm, they can't seem to get any of their new phones launched in the USA, their biggest market. The fact that they have told everyone that new products are coming (something apple hardly ever does) has caused most Blackberry consumers and business users to hold up on a new phone. Who wants to buy last year's model a week before the new phone comes out. Since the Bold seems delayed indefinitely, this is allowing more AT&T (largest seller of Blackberries) customers to give up on Rimm and switch to the iPhone.

      Rimm's Bold is 3G. The new pearl is 2.5G. Why? The Storm is EVDO on Verizon. Too many different phones, too many different radios, too many different operating systems. Rimm seems to be making new phones into new platforms. Apple has one phone with one operating system that is a smaller version of OS X. No one not even MSFT has figured out how to put the computer OS on a phone except Apple.

      All the new touchscreens, the Gphone, Nokia, the Instict, the Dare, Touch and even the not yet available storm, are all being compared to the iphone and all have not measured up. Just driving more and more people to look at the iphone at the apple store and now Best Buy, which results in more computers and more ipods.

      I have a white imac in my conference room at work and almost every client under the age of 50 has asked me about the computer or the brand new imacs that my assistants have. They all ask how I like them and that they are thinking about switching. That never happened a year ago. People never paid attention to the fact that we used Apple computers.

      The point is that the drop in Apple is due to fear not operating perfomance. Also remember that Apple accounts for phones by taking 1/8 of the price per quarter. This quarter will show 6 million old iphones at $400 a pop which is 6 million * $50 = $300 million. Add in 6 million new phones at $25 (1/2 of $200) and you get another $150 million. That $450 million also goes into next quarter even if they never sell another phone.

      Apple will sell $1.2 billion in phones this quarter and only put $150 million towards revenues and earnings. That is why apple is a steal below $100.
      Oct 03 11:52 PM
    • The Google Phone: Blockbuster or Bust? [view article]
      The Gphone is 3g but Tmobile only has 3G in 27 cities. Not a lot of coverage. I went in a tmobile store today and the girl I spoke with did not even know about the phone. One guy did but he told me that they did not have a demo and you could only preorder it.

      Gary Krakow loves the gPhone but he tends to hate the iPhone. Heck he even thinks that the new Storm is faster than the iPhone. I think this is all just chatter. Apple has had a year and a quarter to refine their phone which is why it is Apple phone software 2.1. All the others are 1.0 phones. Who wants to beta test the Gphone or the Storm when the Apple phone has been revised with a second model and about 6 software updates. Not me. Sticking with the original iPhone for now.
      Sep 23 05:43 PM
    • Will Consumers Flip for New BlackBerry? [view article]
      With $21 in cash, that would give Apple a pe of 3. Fatchance fatcat but you might be right on Rimm


      Sep 23 12:35 AM
    • TiVo and BlackBerry Partner Up [view article]
      Big deal. Everything on the blackberry needs a special application where anything on the web can be done on the iphone browser. This is purely news hype with little to no substance.

      Big news is with all the financial companies faltering, Rimm may have few customers left in a few months.
      Sep 14 06:40 PM
    • Dell's Factory Sales: End of an Era [view article]
      Maybe Michael Dell should sell the assets and give the money back to the shareholders. I am sorry, that is whay Michael Dell said about Apple before Apple's market cap became 3 times the size of Dell's

      Apple Maket cap 139.9 billion
      Dell Market Cap $39.5 billion

      Dell's new motto

      Twice the sales for half the profit

      Dell $16 billion in sales with $500 million profit last quarter
      Apple $8 billion in sales with $1 billion in profit last quarter
      Sep 09 08:10 AM
    • Apple Hopes That "Rock" Will Restore Its Roll [view article]
      I guess selling a million phones in 3 days is a botched launch.

      Sep 09 07:36 AM
    • Nokia Tumbles, Dragging Handsets Down [view article]
      In plain english Nokia is saying we have nothing that competes with the iPhone and can't match its price. Sep 05 10:43 PM
    • Apple's Been iSued [view article]
      Go read the lawsuit which does not even know when she bought the phone. The suit says the immmediately noticed problems with 3G reception. There is no mention of returning the phone or demanding a refund. The iPhone return policy is 30 days. She failed to use her remedy and thus her case will be a flop. She claims monetary damages but none are listed. The suit is weak but filed in a class action friendly zone.

      I would hate to be the attorney that called the phone defective if Apple shows the problem is with the AT&T network.
      Aug 22 08:27 AM
    • Bullish on Blackberry Thunder - Canaccord Adams [view article]
      at $225 Rimm's market cap would be $127 billion which would be more than Hewlett Packard today or more than Disney and Dell combined. Pretty amazing market cap for a one trick pony. Aug 21 01:30 PM
    • Bullish on Blackberry Thunder - Canaccord Adams [view article]
      Nice cheerleading but Rimm has never any officially announced the Thunder and this report is in great contrast to the other report that the Bold is no game changer. Plus where is the bold. Supposedly Rogers released it today but there is hardly any news and one story says the stores have 2 or less phones. Aug 21 01:25 PM
Contribute an Article Become a Seeking Alpha Contributor