According to a report, sales of Research in Motion’s (NASDAQ:RIMM) new BlackBerry 7 smartphones have slowed down recently as the competitive pressure from Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) keeps mounting. [1] The report indicates that the launch of iPhone 4S, the lower priced Android phones, Nokia (NYSE:NOK)-Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) partnership and the launch of Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Kindle Fire tablet are eating away RIM’s share in the smartphone and tablet market.
Our $26 price estimate for RIM stock is about 40% above market price.
See our complete analysis for RIM stock here
Apple and Google going strong
Apple announced last month that it sold 4 million iPhone 4S in the first three days of its launch. The demand for iPhone 4S continues as subscribers still have a week-long waiting period to get hands on the device. Sales of Android smartphones are also getting hotter at the same time. Google had earlier announced that there are more than 200 million active Android devices in the hands of consumers around the world, up from 100 million activated devices in May this year. [2]
Complaints keep coming
In October, RIM BlackBerry services suffered interruption due to technical issues that the company faced (see RIM’s BlackBerry Service Disruptions a Blow to its Turnaround). Recently, it faced complaints from a few users that BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 devices failed to power on after being left to charge all night. [3] The increase in number of complaints will not help the company to turnaround its already dented brand image, and hence RIM needs to take some proactive steps to resolve such issues.
Understand How a Company’s Products Impact its Stock Price at Trefis
Notes:- BlackBerry 7 sales sputter after strong start, cnet quoting Canaccord Genuity as the source, November 18th, 2011 [↩]
- Google: 200 million Android devices activated worldwide; 550,000 activations daily, BGR, November 16th, 2011 [↩]
- BlackBerry 7 smartphones dying in sleep, company confirms, BGR, November 19th, 2011 [↩]
