RIM BlackBerry to make low-cost, low-margin and cheap entry Level smartphones

Research In Motion, BlackBerry's maker is placing significant resources to "entry-level smartphones" according to one of its major suppliers. Chip maker Marvell, a Major Supplier to RIM, had a tough time in the quarter that ended January 29, with revenue down 6% (to $901 million) and net income down 13% (to $223 million) from the previous quarter; and all this in spite of the just ended Christmas season which is usually the peak time for smartphone sales. In view of the above, the company's shares dropped more than 11% on the news.
Marketwatch CEO Sehat Sutardja blamed the poor results on a switch by one of Marvell's customers toward building low-cost, low-margin smartphones- a market that Marvell does not supply. That customer is widely understood to be RIM.
RIM is facing pressure from lower priced smartphones that run Google's Android operating system. For all practical reasons, Android basically came out of nowhere in 2010 and surpassed RIM's global market share. Even though RIM grew in absolute numbers, it nonetheless fell to number three behind Android and leader Symbian (Nokia), according to Gartner.
Finally, RIM may be trying to capitalize on chaos at Nokia, which recently announced plans to switch its smartphone platform from Symbian to Windows Phone 7 over the next couple of years. Nokia sells a lot of inexpensive Symbian-based smartphones around the world, so perhaps RIM is looking at that market for expansion.

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