RIM shares dip as Dell switches from Blackberry
By siliconindia   |   Monday, 08 November 2010, 22:14 IST
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Toronto: Research In Motion (RIM ) shares fall as Blackberry is no more the corporate communications smartphone for financial institutions. They are eyeing on alternatives like the Apple iPhone for exchanging company messages and corporate e-mails. The shares fell to more than 3 percent in the market. Financial Institutions are like Bank of America and Citigroup are swapping from Blackberry to Apple iPhone as it is much popular among consumers in the corporate sector. The banks are testing software designed to make Apple's iPhone secure enough for company messages and corporate e-mails. The other reason also being that since Blackberry was used only for office purposes, the companies provided the smartphone , but now the whole idea of testing is to allow access of mails on personal devices as well. "If the IT department's security concerns can be addressed it seems to be a win-win" for employers and employees, said James Cordwell, a London-based analyst at Atlantic Equities. In a September survey, Bernstein Research found 83 percent of U.S. businesses allow employees to use non-BlackBerry alternatives to access corporate email. The move by Bank of America and Citigroup follows the lead of JPMorgan and UBS, which said considered allowing their employees to use iPhones or other alternatives to the standard-issue BlackBerry. British bank Standard Chartered already gives employees the choice to use iPhones. Not only banks and financial Institutions are moving away from Blackberry, PC maker Dell made the bold decision of switching 25,000 BlackBerry using employees over to its own line of smartphones. Dell is also trying to convince its business customers to switch to the company's smartphone. Around 25,000 employees of Dell were using company issued Blackberry and this switch will save a lot of money for Dell. Dell's BlackBerry users will be shifted over to use the new Dell Venue Pro, which runs on Microsoft's new Windows Phone 7 software and operates on the network of T-Mobile. Dell formally entered the smartphone market only late last year, and launched its first device in the U.S., the Aero. The Aero runs on Google's Android software, as does Dell's new 5-inch tablet, the Streak. RIM who have long been in the industry disputed with Dell about saving money from the switch. "We find it highly unlikely that they will actually save any money with this move and far more likely they were looking for a little free publicity," Mark Guibert, RIM's senior vice-president of corporate marketing, said. A RIM executive said the Waterloo, Ontario based company was still adding corporate subscribers and it continues to lead a growing market. RIM shares were down 3.4 percent at $55.17 on Nasdaq late Friday morning and were off 3.2 percent in Toronto at $55.28. In the third quarter, RIM's global smartphone market share slipped more than 4 percentage points from a year earlier, according to industry tracker IDC.

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