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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Blackberry's Playbook: is it the Apple iPad killer?

RIM's Playbook

The race for supremacy in the tablet market is now on full gear! Blackberry has announced its rival to Apple's iPad with a device called the Playbook. The Playbook will be the first business-centric device in the tablet market. This is a clever move by Research In Motion whose smartphone is already seen as the phone of choice in the business community. As a consequence, Playbook may give RIM the opportunity to dominate in a market it is familiar with and where it enjoying a solid reputation. By capitalizing on its business credentials, RIM's Playbook tablet looks set be a real challenger to Apple's iPad, which many people view as simply a giant iPod touch that they don’t really need. On the contrary, RIM intends to market the Playbook as a serious business gadget rather than just another joy machine. The real test though, is whether RIM will deliver what it promises in the business environment with a selection of new apps on yet another operating system. Either way, it's clear that the battle of the tablets is now on full steam.

Features and Specifications.

Mr Lazaridis: "it's an exciting time" for RIM

According to RIM, the Playbook will have a 7-inch screen with front and rear facing cameras to enable video conferencing. This is an important feature that will appeal to the business market. The operating system will not use the new Blackberry OS 6 but the QNX software which was recently acquired by RIM. The new OS is designed specifically for the tablet size computer and will thus avoid the difficulties that come from adjusting a smartphone OS to the tablet platform. The Playbook will have Bluetooth and WiFi. However, it will not have 3G capabilities even though it will enable 3G data connecting by tethering to a Blackberry smartphone. 

Expected date of delivery.

RIM expects to ship the device to corporate customers and developers in October. It will become commercially available early in 2011. RIM has yet to set a price tag on the Playbook; however RIM says it will fall in the lower range of prices for consumer tablets that are already in the tablet market. It remains to be seen whether RIM can keep the price realistic for everyday users. If the price tag is high, despite all the high quality features, RIM will put a lot of people off and once again convince potential users that a tablet is a superfluous midway gadget that they don't really need.