Analyst warns Droid will hurt BlackBerry, Palm
updated 12:15 pm EST, Mon November 2, 2009
Citi urges selling Palm, RIM stock
Citigroup analyst Jim Suva today signaled a major rethink of its approach to cellphone shares by downgrading both Palm and Research in Motion stock to a "sell" recommendation. The about-face comes as a direct result of the Motorola Droid and a belief that the Android phone is a dark horse which will upset phones like the BlackBerry range or the Pre by upstaging them both at work and through sheer publicity.
"Motorola is launching of one of the most compelling offerings at [a] time when many investors have given up on the company’s handsets," Suva says, adding that it should "crack open the enterprise door" and create a "promotion commotion."
The phone as an Android 2.0 device is more directly suited to work with built-in Microsoft Exchange support and should be receiving one of the largest ad campaigns in Verizon's recent history, including a Times Square billboard. Rumors have circulated that Verizon deliberately snubbed the BlackBerry Storm2 by announcing the Droid the same day as the Storm2 shipped, guaranteeing that RIM's phone would be downplayed for the rest of the year.
Apple's valuation is untouched at Citigroup, indicating the firm doesn't believe iPhone sales will be significantly affected by the Droid's appearance.
and then...
11/02, 12:33pm reply
They'll come back and tell us Blackberry and Palm are buys because some new product they don't know about will come in and crush the droid. Then they'll come in and tell you to sell Blackberry and Palm and Motorola because HTC will debut some new phone that will crush them all. Until Blackberry releases their new phone that crushes everyone else.
Mr. Analyst, if you were really good at your job, you would have told us about RIM and Palm were sells BEFORE we knew why.
testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
RSS Headline....
11/02, 12:37pm reply
Motorola Froid? I'd expect that from the frozen Finns at Nokia, but Moto?
jpellino
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Oct 1999
Oi
11/02, 01:17pm reply
Weren't these same analysts clamouring about the storm? Is Android cool? Yes. Is it an iPhone killer? No. It's an iPhone knock off more than anything. It's what people who can't have iPhones or don't want iPhones get. It's a really good solution, but it's not the IT platform. It's great to have on the market, and I don't know about hurting palm too much but I'm sure it will hurt RIM. Hopefully RIM will get the clue and realize that people want more than email and txting on their phones.
Salty
Professional Poster
Joined: Jul 2005
yer droids...
11/02, 01:40pm reply
...we don't serve droids in here...
icewing
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: May 2008
Knowing Motorola...
11/02, 02:23pm (1 reply) reply
They'll s**** up their Droid project somehow. It's claimed that they're going to introduce about 20 new handsets. Not sure if they're all running Android, but that's really flooding the market with devices when they should just be concentrating on one or two at most. These companies always think that if one is good, more is much better. They really just need to focus on perfecting those one or two devices.
iphonerulez
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2008