FlyingArrow

given amazon undercut them by $300 for the same hardware, it's only rational. the real news here is RIMM management doing something "rational". You crack me up... There is almost nothing the same about the hardware.

I'm a bull. But that is friggin hilarious!

Here's a data point that not too many see. Amazing how the US press can write 30 articles and blogs on the same comscore or nielson data - relentless and meaningless. Kind of like the CEO posts... But nobody writes about this: http://crackberry.com/blackberry-bold-9900-sold-out-vodafone-uk It will be interesting how the numbers stack up and how strong a bridge BB7 will be to QNX. It's already starting out stronger than I thought. We will see.

Heres to avoiding death.... ;D

Buying some more. I wouldn't say "loading up" as I'm pretty loaded already having bought between the previous high 40's and high 50's. Averaging down a bit more. Lord help me... :P

That's funny. And way too familiar.... On a more serious note: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Research-In-Motion-Provides-iw-1722042651.html?x=0&.v=1 Looks like there will be a buying opportunity...... Or Bronco will be proven right! I will stick to the former. But will watch the proceedings very closely.

The point was that there are a ton of us "thumbers" who have BB's and want simple (you might say we are simple and need simple...). We don't need a standalone app. It has nothing to do with restricting email. If your biggest and easiest potential sell is to your current BB customers it would be a bad idea to wait for a standalone email app to be finished before releasing. That will come soon enough. I would guess that of the first 100k sold more than 75% were for to existing bb owners. I think the genius is in ensuring that the standalone email app that does come out has the security and strength expected of a BB email solution. If "professional grade tablet" is the strategy for differentiation you don't want to water that down with a rushed "me too" standalone email app.

Funny, but so true! Well put Dazel. A kindred spirit. Boring and easy.....

So I'm bored and thought I'd do an "Abramsky" light survey of retailers on the Playbook inventory status. Based on stock out levels it seems the 32gb and 64gb models are selling better than the 16 (though I have no idea if stores got equal amounts of each or mostly 16's). In my completely unscientific survey via online sites and inventory checks it seems there are lots of stock outs on 32's and 16's in all Toronto stores. Fewer stock outs in the west and east of Canada. I checked Best Buy US cities and a quick check of New York, LA, Atlanta, and yes even San Francisco showed stock outs of 32's and 64's just about everywhere. There seems to be inventory of 16's in most locations. EDIT: Office Depot shows similar results but they have stock outs of 16's as well. I wonder what the initial channel fill was? 20,000 retail locations - maybe 50 each? 1M units? I'm surprised at how many locations are out of stock already. So maybe there is more to this than I'm seeing right now. But it could be indicative of an upside surprise come the end of Q1. Like Viking I see a lot of potential in RIM for all the reasons already mentioned. And the buyback is like a 10% dividend to me that is not being factored at all into the value. So any outperform on the playbook (from admittedly low expectations) is icing on the cake. And yes, I bought some more leaps today.... Mark

Does anyone have a current file with up to date holdings they could share?

OK I'll bite. I bought my kids ipads - 2 of them so I know them inside out. I just bought my playbook yesterday. I love it. I've yet to meet a single person who's mentioned the possibility of buying a Playbook. Almost everyone wants an iPad. Those who don't are waiting for better Android tablets to come out. Weak iPad sales are due to the fact that they've been unable to sell them for a while, due to shortages due to Japan. -Oh, and most analysts are idiots. Pleased to meet you sir... I'd be the one you've now met who was planning to and has bought one. My kids have iPads. I don't want one for myself. I take analysts comments with a heavy grain of salt. Personally I can't believe the amount of noise and nonsense being written on the playbook and tablets in general. Clearly we have very polarized views. I posted my thoughts some time ago and backed them up with a meaningful position. And I own a Playbook now along with iPads in a MAC household. As a corporate Blackberry user (Torch 9800) the Playbook is perfect for me. I don't have time for a detailed write up at the moment but here's some thoughts: 1. I had to visit 3 stores in Toronto to find a 16gb Playbook in stock. Most had 64gb versions but were sold out of the 16 and 32's 2. The first store I visited said they sold out of their 100 pre-orders and also what they got for stock (he didn't know how many that was) 3. I thought presentation and sales staff knowledge at both Best Buy and Future shop was poor. 4. I believe buyers are likely corporate types like me who don't need or care about presentation or sales people but walk in and just buy it. It was interesting that one guy I met looking at the device was an iPhone user. He was going to buy a 16gb when he could find one. I should have quizzed him more on his motivations. 5. I was pleased with the packaging and presentation and it reminded me of how good Apple is at this. RIM has gone to school in this area. 6. Set up could not have been easier. It saw my wi-fi and I logged on. It let me scan a bar code from my torch to automatically load the bridge software on my Torch. The devices synched right away. I was live with full functionality of all my corporate email, contacts, calendar, etc. in minutes. 6. Both the browser using wi-fi or the tethered connection from my phone worked as advertised and performed really well. The browser is amazing and multitasking is really powerful. 7. I did all my email that I would have done today on my torch using the playbook. That was a treat. And the size is such that you can use your thumbs on the keyboard like you do on your regular Blackberry device so I actually like the soft keyboard on the playbook. Much more productive than soft keyboards on larger tablets including ipad which I generally dislike 8. I went out for a coffee and my Playbook fit in the breast pocket of my leather jacket. Unobtrusive. You feel very comfortable taking it with you. I would never do that with an ipad. 9. Browsing the internet, movies, multitasking, you tube, flash etc all work great. The device has amazing video in HD. Much better than the ipad and it feels bigger than it is. 10. The iPad is a great app device and the kids love it. I don't need or use a device for much in that area so no big deal for me. For the forseeable future I will still need to carry a laptop on business. The last thing I want to do is carry around an ipad as well. Too big. The playbook is a no brainer for me. 11. All of the stuff running around the internet about not being finished, no email, no 3g etc etc. is noise for me. I like that is has no 3g and I don't have to pay for a separate plan. I will use this thing big time for personal use but it's covered under my corporate phone plan. Plus most of the places I sit and surf have wifi anyway. I didn't buy our ipads with 3g either. 12. There is no involvement needed from my corporate IT folks (and I work for a fortune 50 company). It just worked out of the box. 13. The bashing going on now with RIM reminds me a bit of the bashing FFH got a few years back. The big Canadian company who had stumbled and was "going to zero". Personally I don't think so. I think the ones doing the bashing have gone short RIM and Long apple and they have an agenda to push. I'm not bashing the iPad. They are great for certain things. But I could never use one for what I intend to use my Playbook for. Different strokes for different folks. There may be one or two more like me... Personally I think RIM will nail the corporate market. I think next they will then start to pick up a following from people (many teens) who use blackberry's for BBM. That will be on the playbook shortly. I don't need them to challenge apple for the entire consumer space. They will do just fine with 15-20% of the increasing tablet market. That would be pretty cool. And yes. I am long RIM. Very long.....

Sounds like I might be the odd duck here.... Personally I think the story is compelling for RIM. Here's some quick thoughts - random and anecdotal as they may be... Some thoughts on corporate: 1. I'm an Apple guy. Mac's at home, kids have iPads, wife has iPhone. As for the iPhone I tried hers for a couple of days. Love it for the fun stuff and browsing. Drove me crazy trying to email. Would never consider it for work. 2. As with most business people I've always used a Blackberry at work. Hated the browser. Got a torch a couple of months ago. Love the browser, love it for media, love it for email as it has my trusted BB keyboard. Occasionally use the soft keyboard for short mail but similar to iPhone, they are not optimal for typing. There is nothing I feel I'm missing on the Torch vs. the iPhone. 3. For the longest time I've seen a lot of business people with both a BB for work and an iPhone for personal use. We all need to simplify. I think many will consolidate on the torch (with a tethered Playbook to come). 4. I know of 4 people who were allowed to switch to iPhones at work and within a month dumped them and went back to the BB. The business world has gotten incredibly efficient sending emails on BB's and the iPhone is no substitute. Those people went back to BB's when they only had the Bold. Now with the Torch I'm sure they are even more satisfied. 5. I had a conversation with a financial planner at a New Years Eve party who has a client who switched his entire small company (60 users) from BB's to iPhones with great hoopla. Everyone was excited. The vast majority now hates it and wants to go back to BB's. The guy is kicking himself. 6. There is far more inertia in corporate IT with BB's than many are considering. With the torch's arrival and Playbook imminent you can bet they are digging in their heels as they know they can satisfy their users with what is to come. I can say that is the case for three CIO's I canvassed on this. 7. I strongly believe RIM will be the Gorilla in the corporate market for some time. We all saw corporate challengers to Microsoft but look how long they have owned that space and continued to milk oversized profits from it. Curious that we never see stats purely on the corporate market. I think they would be more telling. I've heard alot about XX% of Fortune 500's are trying iPhones. Well, I've seen the results of a few trials. Some thoughts on Personal and consumer use: 1. I bought my mom a seniors phone this Xmas. The phone's not relevant. The buying experience is. While in the cell phone store I counted the phones. 25% of devices were BB devices. The iPhone is one device at the high end. I asked the manager what the percentage of sales were that came from BB's. She said around 25%. I laughed and told her that lined up with my device count. She looked at me like I was some kind of freak for counting phones... 2. While waiting I watched a mom and daughter at the counter. Mom is a business person. Daughter (16) got a new BB curve for Xmas. They were signing up for a data plan and using BB messenger between them. Daughter uses BB messenger amongst all her friends. They must all have BB's too. 3. Went to Blockbuster right after I left the cell phone store. The 17 year old dude at the counter goes nuts over my Torch. Says he's getting one in a week and can't wait. He thinks it's the best device on the market. Lives on texts and wants BB messenger and the big screen browsing of the Torch. 4. I use the kids iPads occasionally. I hate that they don't do flash. Had to break it to the kids when they wanted to go to my little pet shop online but couldn't because it uses flash. They love them now with all the apps and don't do much web browsing anyway. But for me, I want a device that supports flash. And I don't want a 3G device and another monthly bill. I will use my corporate BB tethered. Company pays the bill. I will be even more productive. And the form factor is way better for a business guy with too much to carry as it is. 5. I've tried a Kindle and I'm buying one for a reader while traveling business. Far better device for the purpose they either iPad or Playbook. Not all that relevant but supports the notion that devices built for specific purposes will win for that purpose. Playbook will win for business. iPad for the rest. Some general comments: 1. For the longest time I was concerned that RIM was too set on doing everything in house and by themselves and their corporate roots would result in them falling too far behind in things like usability, user interface, and cool factor. Even with those concerns I thought the market was throwing them in the trash just like FFH a while back. I bought in pretty big at $48. At the time had no idea that Prem and team were in too. 2. As the fall progressed I was happy with RIM moving to $60. Started thinking about what's next. Then I see RIM acquiring TAT. Now it get's interesting. How many of the detractors have considered what this could mean? Some interesting thoughts here: http://blogs.blackberry.com/2010/12/rim-welcomes-tat/ http://www.androidguys.com/2010/12/02/astonishing-tribe-acquired-rim-honor-current-android-agreements/ Look at some of the video's on TAT's site. I think the cool factor won't be a problem anymore! Oh, and it's interesting that their technology is in 470 million phones. 15% of all phones sold in 2010. 20% of all touch phones sold in 2010. As the article above suggests - those other phones need to go somewhere else for "cool" now. RIM is the focus. I believe the market is pricing RIM based on imminent death like they did with FFH back in the day. The only difference is that FFH got closer than I think RIM ever will. When I bet really big on FFH I can honestly say I did all my homework, knew more about FFH's business and financials then my own company (only because Prem shares so much with his shareholders in writing and the annual meetings - Thanks Prem!). With RIM I can't say the same. The thesis is more in my gut. I'm making the call on a purely different level. But I've plowed in at $60 with similar conviction that I had back in 2003 and 2006 on FFH's big dips - as with FFH I'm using common and the leaps. I hope the future treats me as well and this doesn't prove to be a lesson..... So far so good. ;D Long RIM, FFH, SSW, FBK, GE Cheers,

Yep we just need an enterprising investor to update it :D I can update that spreadsheet when i get some time over the weekend - if someone can list the link to the 13f (dont have it here) http://google.brand.edgar-online.com/Default.aspx?companyid=11605&formtypeID=35

Im not exactly sure when they made their purchases on Rim but if it was before I posted the most recent thread on Rimm, it was most likely in the high $4.xx- $5.xx acb http://google.brand.edgar-online.com/Default.aspx?companyid=11605&formtypeID=35 over $100M in RIMM shares at $49.39. $26M gain here.

Nothing in my TD account either. What symbol are the rights trading under and where can you find quotes/volume?