Theres always hope. August was grim for Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM ),
with each week bringing another announcement that pounded into the companys
share price like so many nails into a coffin. By Aug. 8, shares in the
smartphone manufacturer sank below $22 for the first time since 2004. The
company is recovering, though, and while around $30 per share isnt a price that
reflects a return to the gloried value of RIM three years ago, it is at least a
signal to shareholders that all is not lost. Wall Street analyst Shaw Wu of
Sterne Agee agrees. Speaking to All Things Digital on Monday, Wu said RIMs
latest phones are going to help the company regain ground it has ceded to Apple
(NASDAQ: AAPL ) and Google s (NASDAQ: GOOG ) many manufacturing partners in the
smartphone market. These new phones include the BlackBerry Torch 9850/9860,
touchscreen-only devices running the new BlackBerry 7 operating system and
supported by AT&T (NYSE: T ) and Sprint (NYSE: S ). A more traditional
BlackBerry with a keyboard interface, the BlackBerry 9810, joins those models.
Reviews of these phones havent been favorable, though. Even though the
BlackBerry Torch 9850 is recognized as a significant improvement over the
companys last attempt at a purely touchscreen device, the lamentable BlackBerry
Storm, it has been criticized by outlets like CNET for having poor phone call
quality and performance problems. What RIM does have working in its favor,
however, is the new BlackBerry 7 operating system, which has received better
press than the devices on which it runs and which Wu claims makes for RIMs
strongest product cycle in some time. Wu thinks its possible that Nokia (NYSE:
NOK ) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ) will not release their first Windows phones
in the U.S. until early 2012. RIM then has a shot at capturing some market share
across the fourth quarter, despite Apples impending omni-telecom iPhone 5
release expected in October . Strong software, cheap phones and support for
Android app developers on the platform not a bad place to be for RIM. The
company has even started up new media services that arent complete
embarrassments. RIM opened BlackBerry Music for business on Thursday. For $5 per
month, BlackBerry users can access 50 songs and cycle out 25 of those songs for
others each month. It sounds weak compared to streaming services like Pandora
(NYSE: P ) and cloud services like Amazon s (NASDAQ: AMZN ) CloudPlayer, but its
social networking feature that lets BlackBerry users share songs with each other
to expand available tracks should convince users to idly drop the $5. It isnt a
game-changer, but a fine perk. Things look OK for RIM, but not great. While
theres hope for shareholders, its important to note that RIMs improved outlook
is only for the short term. The BlackBerry 7 OS, the new Torch phones, the new
music service these are all factors that make for a promising fourth quarter,
not a promising 2012 or 2013. IDC expects RIM to control a 14% share of the
worldwide smartphone market by the end of 2011. By 2015, that should fall to 13%
. The best outcome for RIMs holiday? A slightly healthier place in the market
that will make its technology and brand more attractive for acquisition by
another partner . As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a
position in any of the stocks named here. Follow him on Twitter at
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