Savings Experiment: Snow Removal
The Money Man Behind Rick Santorum: Who Is Foster S. Friess?
Just back in March, Research In Motion's (RIMM) shares were over $75 and looking solid. But now the shares are below $48. True, one reason for the fall is the market instability. Yet the fact remains that RIM has also had some missteps and its BlackBerry offerings are coming under pressure from rivals like Apple's (AAPL) iPhone and even Google's (GOOG) mobile Android operating system.
But RIM is fighting back. And it looks like a key to the strategy is to rev up acquisitions. For example, this week RIM agreed to acquire Cellmania (the price tag was not disclosed).
Founded in 1999, Cellmania develops software called mFinder. Basically, it helps companies manage the download activities from mobile phones, as well as to help with subscription billings. Customers can either license the software or have it hosted from Cellmania's servers. So far, mFinder has more than 200,000 items of content on its platform, which is available on more than 200 handsets. Some of the marquee customers include Sprint (S) and AT&T (T).
While Cellmania will continue to service these customers, this will not be an important business for RIM. Instead, the acquisition is a way to bolster RIM's lagging app store, which only has 9,500 applications. Perhaps this issue explains RIM's troubles with new phones like the BlackBerry Torch.
Despite the recent efforts for its app store, RIM still has many challenges. After all, it takes time to engender a developer community. And unfortunately, it is far from easy to create apps on RIM devices because of the different form factors. So, if RIM wants to have a strong app store, it will need to be aggressive in luring developers, which will be a big change for the company.
Tom Taulli is also the author of several books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and also develops iPhone apps for finance.
Goldman Earnings Sink After Buffett Dividend
Johnson & Johnson's Income Falls 23%
Burberry Shares Leap on Sales Update
