BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. said Thursday that new phones deemed critical to the company’s future will be delayed until late 2012.

 

Mike Lazaridis, one of the company’s co-CEOs, said the BlackBerry 10 phones will need a highly integrated chipset that will not be available until mid-2012, so the company can now expect them to ship late in the year. He disclosed the delay on a conference call with analysts . . .

 

BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis said the guidance was terrible and wondered if it was the start of a collapse.

 

“If consumers abandon this platform it can happen pretty quickly,” Gillis said. “Don’t think this is the bottom.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/blackberry-maker-rims-fiscal-third-quarter-net-income-falls/2011/12/15/gIQANMIcwO_story.html

 

I don’t own a high–tech phone and have finally been mulling over getting a BB, an iPhone or the Samsung Galaxy. But the on-going troubles of BB’s parent company Research in Motion make me wonder if BB’s will be still be around should I opt for one of them.

 

It’s not just the delay to the new phone that is worrying. Net income for the latest quarter has plunged from US$911m to $265m, the three-day service outage two months ago not only lost them $40 million but resulted in a stack of lawsuits and the loss of a great deal of goodwill, and their reply to the iPad has been such a dismal failure that the company has taken a US$365 million charge for the big discounts it is offering. Not surprisingly, the share price has tanked this year by around 75%.

 

Would you consider buying a BB now?

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16210897

I don't give a damn about the Blackberry. I have an iPhone.

Would you consider buying a BB now?

No. I might buy some sort of smart phone in 2012, but it is more likely to be an i-phone clone, or even a slightly larger device (that still fits in the pocket).

 

The ability to drag up street maps etc on the move appeals to me. A Blacberry does not seem like the optimum device for that. Perhaps it's more useful for business use, where people need to send e-mails from anywhere.

However, I think the Blackberry is already on its way to extinction. Squeezed out at the top end by i-phone clones & possibly at the bottom end by other phones with QWERTY keyboards.

 

Also, it's a fine demonstration of Peter Lynch's advice about not buying shares in IT companies. Products can quickly be come obsolete or get beaten by better competitors.

Would you consider buying a BB now?

No. I am years behind the current developments in mobile phone technology. I am always amazed when I see the phones Thai moneyboys have. So I am roughly aware of what you are talking about.

 

The last phone I bought was a Nokia 6210 (?) which was in early 2001. It's still in perfect working condition, but the screen has a low resolution so reading SMS is tedious. In 2009, I got a newer model (Samsung E720 ?, colour display and build-in camera) as a gift from a friend (there are people who get new phones every few years with their contracts), which will last (current estimate) well until 2015 or even longer.