RIM Launches OS 7 and New BlackBerry Bolds

| May 4, 2011 | Consumer Devices
| Analyst: Avi Greengart

Event Summary

May 2, 2011 - RIM has unveiled two new BlackBerry Bold smartphones running a new version of the BlackBerry OS, version 7. The new Bold is the thinnest and most powerful BlackBerry yet, with both a touchscreen, full QWERTY keyboard and a 1.2 GHz processor in variants for GSM/HSPA+ and CDMA/EV-DO carriers with GSM/HSPA+ global roaming capabilities. OS 7 brings improved search, browsing and graphics performance. The new phones will be available this summer.

Quick Take

Analytical Summary

• Current Perspective: Negative on RIM’s latest updates to the BlackBerry Bold and upgrades to the OS, because they do not solve the key problems RIM faces in the U.S. smartphone market. There is good news: it is hard to overstate how insanely great this BlackBerry Bold is for corporate email and BBM addicts. With high end specs that translate to genuine performance gains and a thin and attractive case, it should keep some BlackBerry loyalists loyal. (It should be a hit in Europe, where BBM trumps many other factors.) Unfortunately, it is equally hard to overstate how little of that matters to people who want a big screen browsing experience, a UI designed specifically for touch, or to run lots of apps. This part of RIM’s base is defecting to iOS and Android phones, and winning them back will take more than the Bold’s specs – which those devices already meet or exceed. For that group, a QNX-based phone might be more competitive, but QNX phones will not be available this year.

• Vendor Importance: Very high to RIM because by the time the Bold 9900 ships, the company will not have had a high end BlackBerry launch in nearly a year, and even that model was only available at a single carrier in the U.S. (the Torch at AT&T). The new Bold for both GSM and CDMA carriers should help RIM’s average selling price (ASP) rise as pent up demand among the BlackBerry faithful propels sales. However, that group is rapidly shrinking, and RIM needs to transition to QNX as quickly as possible.

• Market Impact: Low on smartphones, because this is more of the same old song from RIM. The smartphone market has moved to operating systems built from the ground up for touch-based mobile computing. Consumers upgrading to smartphones are looking at the purchase decision as an investment in a platform that they will enjoy over their two year contract and beyond. The BlackBerry OS 7 platform is not an attractive platform for long term investment, as RIM itself is acknowledging by moving to QNX for the PlayBook and future BlackBerry phones due out next year.

CLIENTS ONLY

Current Perspective

Competitive Strengths and Weaknesses

Response & Recommendations

Buyer Actions

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