QNX

Research In Motion's stock may look like a bargain, but looks can be deceiving.

RIM has seen its shares tumble by 71 percent since February, and many of its problems are well understood at this point. But the unlikely scenarios of a takeover or drastic strategy change suggest that the company will continue to be mired in its problems, leaving little opportunity for optimism, according to Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu.

"On the one hand, we must admit RIM is today a bargain in many respects, and we can imagine new directions to get the company out … Read more

Research In Motion has a backlog of roughly 800,000 PlayBooks, The Guardian is reporting.

Citing an analyst from Fubon Securities, the U.K. publication reported today that RIM's supplier, Quanta Computer, had shipped 1.5 million PlayBooks to RIM in the first half. But RIM has only shipped 700,000 Playbooks--including 200,000 from the past quarter--to its retail partners.

The massive stockpile at RIM is another illustration of the struggles the BlackBerry-maker has faced in selling the tablet. It also adds a wrinkle to how the company plans to reduce the inventory. RIM has acknowledged … Read more

Research In Motion will have to learn from the mistakes of the PlayBook tablet if it wants to see any success with its next generation of BlackBerry smartphones.

With disappointing sales and plunging profits, how could the company not feel the urgency to rush out a phone using slick its new QNX software? But that would be a bad idea. As the PlayBook has shown, rushing out a product only leads to more criticism and a poor reception.

"They got to get it right with QNX," said Mike Walkley, an analyst for Canaccord Genuity. "They're better … Read more

Hit by weakening sales, Research In Motion plans to add Android support to next year's lineup of new BlackBerry smartphones, Bloomberg reported yesterday.

Citing information from "three people familiar with the plan," Bloomberg said that the new Android-compatible phones will run the company's QNX software and debut in early 2012. A story earlier this month from the blog Boy Genius Report said that RIM will launch its first QNX-powered BlackBerry, code-named Colt, during the first quarter of 2012.

The move toward Android support is designed to enhance the appeal of BlackBerrys and shake up sales, which have taken a dive due to tight competition from the iPhone and Android devices.

A ComScore report from September of last year showed RIM with a leading 39 percent share of the U.S. smartphone market. A more recent ComScore report, released last month, found RIM now in third place behind Google and Apple with just 24 percent of the market.… Read more

Apple releases a tool to automatically create recovery disks for Mac OS X Lion, researchers at the Black Hat hackers conference say that you should change all of your passwords if your laptop gets stolen, and the BlackBerry Colt will be the first QNX-powered smartphone from Research in Motion in early 2012.

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

Research In Motion is slated to launch its first QNX-powered BlackBerry, code-named Colt, in the first quarter, according to a report today.

The timing of the launch is still conditional on the testing process, according to Boy Genius Report. Also of note, the blog reports that the first phone won't feature support for the BlackBerry Enterprise Server because of the complexities of rewriting the BES code for the new software. Instead, it will feature access to Microsoft's ActiveSync e-mail software.

The new timetable suggests an accelerated schedule for RIM, which has previously said it expects to have a … Read more

Apple's iPad is still the top tablet in terms of shipments, but its share has dropped lately against a crowd of competing devices, according to a report out today from Strategy Analytics.

For the second quarter of the year, Apple grabbed 61 percent of the global tablet business, shipping a record 9.3 million iOS-based tablets. Though still a healthy chunk, that number was down from the 94 percent share the company scooped up a year ago.

Those results aren't exactly surprising, however, given that the market has been flooded lately with rival devices from the likes of Samsung, Motorola, Acer, Research In Motion, HP, and a slew of other vendors.

Apple itself reported yesterday that it shipped 9.25 million iPads during its fiscal third quarter, which ended June 25.

Android-based tablets soaked up 30 percent of all global shipments in the second quarter, according to Strategy Analytics. However, no one single Android tablet has yet come close to matching the appeal of the iPad, and demand for many of these tablets is still "patchy," the report noted.… Read more

Research In Motion has reportedly put the brakes on a 10-inch PlayBook tablet and is instead focusing on a new BlackBerry "superphone," according to enthusiast site N4BB.

Previous rumors had pointed to RIM launching a 10-inch follow-up to its current 7-inch BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. But N4BB said yesterday that it had received "word" that the company has changed its mind and has stopped development on the new tablet, citing the focus on the new superphone as the reason.

Though the alleged superphone has no name or launch date at this point, N4BB listed some of its … Read more

When RIM introduced the BlackBerry PlayBook, it not only offered a 7-inch alternative to the iPad and Android tablets, it also offered a sneak peek into the future of RIM. Even though we think handsets like the Bold and the Torch are sleek and handsome, they're just not innovative enough. They cater to loyalists rather than attempt to woo new customers. Even the latest BlackBerry Bolds from BlackBerry World seem more evolutionary than revolutionary.

The PlayBook, however, with its innovative OS and features, may be RIM's first shot at what a next-generation BlackBerry phone will look like. Sure, … Read more