DUBAI // Can BB10 save the BlackBerry smartphone and its maker, Research In Motion (RIM)? The answer will become clearer in Dubai at the end of the month.
The city is one of six, along with Toronto, New York, London, Paris and Johannesburg, where the operating system will be launched on January 30.
Worldwide BlackBerry sales have slumped in recent years as the device became viewed as old-fashioned and its features were overtaken by Apple’s iPhone and devices running Google’s Android operating system.
RIM hopes new features on BB10 will prove popular with consumers and rekindle the brand’s flagging popularity.
The features include the Hub, a unified inbox for emails, text messages, third-party messaging apps and social networks; Peek, which allows users to slide the screen and glance at another app without leaving the one they are using; and BlackBerry Balance, which keeps personal apps and information separate from work data.
It is not known when handsets running the new system will be on sale.
“It might take a couple of days or weeks following the official launch,” said Ashish Panjabi, chief operating officer at Jacky’s, the electronic warehouse chain.
Mr Panjabi said the continuing popularity of the BlackBerry in the Arabian Gulf, compared with its decline elsewhere, was due to three factors – the price of data packages, the price of the device itself and, “most importantly”, that it is a “very cost effective means of communication for the large expatriate community to contact families abroad”.
Abbas Jaffar Ali, director of tbreak media, a technology company, said: “I think RIM is putting all they have into the BB10. As far as the device and operating system are concerned, I think it will be a knockout product.
“Where the challenge stands is getting quality third-party apps on their new platform. Microsoft is struggling with that, although the Android Player on BB10 will allow you to run a fair amount of Android applications, which is certainly an advantage.”
He estimated that the cost of the device would be about Dh2,000.
The launch will be a critical moment for RIM, according to Matthew Reed, principal analyst at Middle East and Africa Informa Telecoms and Media.
“Hard numbers for smartphone sales in this region are quite hard to come by, so I can only say that while BlackBerry devices seem to have remained popular in the UAE, I expect that the trend will be for Apple and Android devices to gain here at the expense of BlackBerry unless BB10 is a success,” he said.
"It's hard to predict how this is going to go for RIM. The indicators about the operating system are good but it must also seize consumers' imagination if RIM is to pull off a turnaround. The smartphone market is highly competitive and fast-changing."
wissa@thenational.ae
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How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
