Photos of a cellphone that sparked a market buzz yesterday may be the latest sign that Research In Motion Ltd. is positioning itself to be a major player in the global cellphone market.
An Internet site posted pictures of what it said is a new, slim cellphone from RIM, which is already a leader in handheld mobile communications devices.
The photos spurred almost a 7-per-cent jump in the Waterloo, Ont.-based company's stock price on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Pictures of the new clamshell flip phone, dubbed the “Kickstart,” first appeared on The Boy Genius tech blog Wednesday night, and by yesterday morning the images had spread across the Web.
'This isn’t fake, this isn’t a hoax,' the Boy Genius post reads (Picture courtesy of The Boy Genius Report)
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RIM would not comment on the photos.
The Kickstart photos add fuel to the rumours that RIM may be preparing to take on established cellphone giants such as Nokia Corp., LG Electronics Inc. and Motorola Inc.
“This is definitely a consumer play and it will probably be coming out just in time for the summer or for the back-to-school season,” Info-Tech Research Group senior analyst Michelle Warren said.
The Boy Genius pictures show a silver flip phone similar to Motorola's Razr, with a keypad akin to the BlackBerry Pearl's. The Kickstart also includes a trackball, camera and external and internal LCD screens, according to the post. It is believed to be a 3G device which will run on next-generation cellphone networks used by a majority of European and Asian carriers.
RIM has spent much of the last year expanding into new markets, but analysts believe the company is preparing to overhaul its product line with anywhere from three to six new devices set to launch over the next 12 months.
Rumoured prototypes include the BlackBerry 9000 to replace the Curve, a new version of the Pearl, the Kickstart, a touch-screen model to compete against the iPhone, a sliding QWERTY keyboard style phone similar to the Sidekick cellphone device and a high-capacity device with extra storage space for videos and music.
RIM's new devices, combined with its move toward 3G networks, should have the company on the cusp of another surge in market share, financial rewards and share price, according to Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek.
“If I look at a 12-month product road map from RIM, I can't think of a more exciting time for the company,” he said.
One of RIM's key advantages is its ability to rapidly “spin plastic,” he said.
“Basically, it's an industry term that means taking your chips, reorganizing them and putting them in a new form factor,” he said. “RIM can spin plastic probably faster than anybody else right now.”
Also yesterday, RIM announced a contract with cellphone distributor Brightpoint Inc. which could help bring the BlackBerry to more customers in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Europe.
Although whatever RIM co-chief executive Jim Balsillie and his phalanx of engineers are cooking up for the next generation of BlackBerrys remains a closely guarded secret, that hasn't prevented the company's legions of fans from mining for clues about forthcoming devices.
Posts such as the one that revealed the Kickstart photos appear regularly online, while forum message boards teem with speculation over the evolution of the BlackBerry family.
Once thought of as a device exclusively for Bay Street executives and politicians, more than half of the nearly 2.2 million new BlackBerry subscribers RIM added in the most recent quarter are consumers. Main Street consumers now account for about 38 per cent of RIM's 14-million-strong customer base. RIM (TSX) rose $8.05 to $130.64.
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