Last week Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) made some major announcements. RIM reported its August ending fiscal year Q2 2012 results, which were well below its own expectations and killed the little remaining hope for a quick turnaround at the company. Microsoft unveiled a detailed preview of the next major release of its next version called Windows 8 at the BUILD developer event. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) continues to gain strength in the tablet market and grew market share at the expense of Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android platform in Q2 compared to Q1 2011.
Here are some of the key updates from last week on these names.
RIM
RIM’s stock immediately dropped by around 20% in the after-market hours trading as a knee jerk reaction to the earnings announcement. The results were below company’s own estimates and it could only generate $4.17 billion of revenues against its own previous outlook of between $4.2 billion and $4.8 billion. [1] Both BlackBerry and PlayBook shipments came out below our expectations, and the only hope left for RIM seems to be the successful transition of its smartphones operating system from BlackBerry to QNX planned for next year.
See RIM Blows it with Investors Again, Lowering Estimates
Microsoft
Windows 8 seems to have a radically different look and feel, and the most attractive aspect of Windows 8 would be the flexibility to accommodate new tablet devices as well as more traditional desktop PCs that rely on keyboards and mice. While its too early to call it an iPad killer, we do believe that Microsoft’s commitment to tablets and having a more robust OS bodes well for its outlook and could pose problems for Apple longer term.
See Can Microsoft’s Windows 8 Take a Bite of Apple’s iPad Sales Next Year?
Apple
According to a recent report from IDC, Apple’s iPad increased its share in the global tablet market from 66% in calendar Q1 2011 to more than 68% in Q2 2011 while Google’s Android platform lost some traction in this market declining from 34% to 27% during the same period. [2]
Although Android is well positioned in the smartphone market, it struggles in the tablet market primarily due to competition as well as the fact that Android tablets and smartphones still use disparate operating systems. On the other hand, Apple’s advantage in the tablet world is that its operating system, iOS, works for both the iPhone and iPad. This helps developers in synchronizing development tasks, whereas Google has to deal with two different systems.
See Apple Takes a Bigger Bite of Tablet Market Share as Android Slips
Notes:- RIM FY Q1 2012 earnings conference call transcript, SeekingAlpha, June 17th, 2011 [↩]
- Media Tablet and eReader Markets Beat Second Quarter Targets, Forecast Increased for 2011, IDC, September 14th, 2011 [↩]
