Rumor: Blackberry 10 Devices To Ship In March

From the “Is this the final nail in RIM’s coffin?” department comes this bombshell. In a research note to investors on Tuesday, Jefferies analyst Peter Misek said that RIM’s first BlackBerry 10 phone might not launch until March.

“We had hoped for a January launch but now see a March launch as more likely,” he writes. That would mean no sales of the next generation phones in the February quarter. “Also, our checks point to a tough November quarter, with replenishment rates decreasing as channel partners are cautious on holding RIM inventory. We think the business uncertainty means parties are unlikely to acquire or license from RIM until BB10 launches.”

The bad news doesn’t end there:

“We still believe a third ecosystem [in addition to iOS and Android] will emerge, but the probability of BB10 filling the role is wholly dependent on whether RIM can convince Samsung, Huawei, and ZTE to license,” he writes. “Baidu, Huawei, and others are pursuing their own operating systems. We also see Win 8 as somewhat of a threat but conflicting reviews, less-than-stellar developer feedback, and a desire by Microsoft to make hardware directly make Win 8.”

The net result? This analyst doesn’t think much of RIM. He set the target price at $5. That’s not good.

It really seems like it’s game over for RIM.

Leave a Reply

Discover more from The IT Nerd

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading