Holiday Gift Guide »

RIM stock drops on poor Pearl Flip sales

By: , IntoMobile
Monday, October 20th, 2008 at 12:06 PM

Analysts from Pacific Crest Securities have issued a pessimistic outlook on the latest BlackBerry 8220 from T-Mobile, and as a result, RIM’s stock has taken a dive down 10% to around $50. It’s a bit of a double-whammy after the whole market took a hit a few weeks back, but hopefully the BlackBerry Storm will be able to give investors a little more confidence in the upcoming lineup. What do you guys think – is the BlackBerry Pearl Flip really that disappointing? Yeah, sure, I wouldn’t pick one up, but that’s just because I’m in that heavy-duty smartphone demographic rather than the more casual flip-phone users. Does the 8220 not cut mustard for the feature phone crowd?

[via Reuters]

About The Author

Simon Sage

Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.

  • JG Mason

    I figured I was just out of touch. I feel a little better knowing my gut was right on this flip BB. If a user wants pro-grade email, they’ve probably already converted to a candybar or slider phone. No one wants to go backwards.

  • Will Park

    I would have thought the 8220 would have at least hit par with expectations.

  • AC

    @JG Mason: “Backwards”? How do you figure…?

    The vast majority of mobile handsets in Japan are flips, and I wouldn’t exactly call them backwards.

  • Tom

    Well I had choice the E71 phone of the year and best smartphone 2008

  • Conrad Longmore

    Why would a candybar or slide be an improvement over a flip? The flip format gives you more room for the keyboard and screen and helps prevent making accidental calls when it’s in your pocket or bag. I’ve always thought that the clamshell / flip design is the most logical one for a phone.. but for some reason it’s just not fashionable in Europe.

    I’m definitely after a BlackBerry flip.. but T-Mobile UK don’t have it yet. It’s a much more practical design than the ordinary Pearl!

  • GtBoss

    I really, really wanted to get the Flip. But now that it’s out, it just doesn’t make $$ and sense. Here’s the math for the 2yr commit here in Seattle….

    RIM Pearl 8220 Flip…
    Phone cost $150 + Monthly voice plan $40 + Data Plan $25 = $1710.00 total life of contract.

    HTC G1…
    Phone cost $200 + Monthly voice plan $40 + Data Plan $25 = $17160.00 total life of contract.

    So, for another $50, I can browse the web with 3G, enjoy a larger screen, have a useable GPS, have way more application choices, and (add your personal pref here).

    The Flip is a great voice phone, email reader, and music player, but not a great web browser. It doesn’t need a $25/mo data plan. They would of sold thousands more at the $50 price point without the data requirement. I gotta spend $700 more to browse the web on that tiny screen? I don’t think so. I got over priced gas to pay for.