Research in Motion (RIMM)

Increasing competition in the smartphone market could be detrimental to RIM. Nokia, Motorola, and Palm have been upping their offerings of smartphones, and Apple's iPhone could stiffen competition in the already cutthroat market. Unlike many of its competitors, RIM is almost entirely dedicated to the smartphone industry, offering devices, software, and services. As such, it's much more exposed to increased competition than much of the competition.

Apple has announced that the IPhone could host Microsoft exchange software which would bring in the corporate clients that RIMM holds as an competitive edge as of now.

Research in Motion is a great company that offers a great product. The BlackBerry is one of the best wireless e-mail devices on the market, the product of years of fine-tuning and tweaking based on the feedback of a very demanding group of customers. Despite this, of all the smartphones shipped in Q3 2006, just 2.8% ran the BlackBerry operating system (which, as the name implies, is the standard operating system for all new BlackBerry handsets). RIM leads the competition in some markets, but the overall picture shows that it controls a relatively small portion of the total smartphone market. The situation is somewhat reminiscent of the Windows/Macintosh dichotomy. Much like Apple's fiercely loyal customer base in the PC market, RIM's BlackBerry devices have developed a devoted following in the smartphone industry. The case could be made that the BlackBerry is a better product and that quality will win out when all's said and done. Mac enthusiasts have been making the same car for years, but Apple's share of the PC market, though it has been rising recently, still comes in at around 3% worldwide, with Windows accounting for the vast majority of the remaining 97%.

RIM is slow on innovation and weak in design. The blackberry will continue to see success in business applications, but will have low penetration into the mainstream market when competition heats up.

Microsoft now includes wireless e-mail software with its Windows Mobile operating system, giving users the ability to sync with Windows servers without purchasing extra software. Given the ubiquity of Microsoft software on PCs, this could directly (and effectively) compete with RIM's BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS).

The WiMax vs W-CDMA battle could impact RIM. So far, only one BlackBerry offers either of the two technologies, with the 8700 series offering W-CDMA compatibility for certain models. If RIM continues to implement W-CDMA technology in its devices, the success of WiMax at becoming the next industry standard would be a strong blow to the company.