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Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) unveiled a new phone and a new company name this morning. So far, none of it is impressing investors.
RIMM shares are down 6% today after the company released its new BlackBerry 10 smartphone – an all-touch device intended to compete with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone and Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android. The BlackBerry 10 is a replacement for the outdated BlackBerry, which has been out of favor ever since the advent of the iPhone.
In addition, Research In Motion announced plans to change its name to BlackBerry. Clearly, the company is fully aligning itself with its new product and trying to shed a tarnished image that has resulted in an 83% drop in the company’s stock over the last five years.
Unfortunately for RIMM – er, BlackBerry – the stock is falling again. It’s possible that today’s decline may be just a natural pullback after shares shot up 97% in the past three months as anticipation for the BlackBerry 10 built. Initial disappointment after the unveiling is fairly natural, and parallels recent reactions to Facebook’s (NASDAQ: FB) “Graph Search” and Apple’s iPad Mini product releases.
Perhaps the BlackBerry 10 commercial set to air during the Super Bowl this Sunday will help goose sales for the new product and win back a few investors.
Regardless, Research In Motion is clearly going all in with its new BlackBerry – even changing its company name to BlackBerry.
Today’s announcement is an obvious crossroads for the company. We’ll see which way it goes from here.