App Store hypothetical market cap beats RIM's value

Research in Motion, maker of the once-ubiquitous BlackBerry, hasn't been doing so well this year. As each month goes buy, its smartphone continues to lose market share to the likes of Apple's iPhone and Android-powered phones. Just last week, RIM's stock sank after dismal quarterly earnings and a less-than-stellar outlook. That stock slump brought the company to a market cap of approximately US$7.04 billion last Friday. As smartphone market analyst Brian Hall was the first to point out, that's less than Apple's App Store is worth. Yeah, just the App Store alone is worth more than all of the BlackBerry maker.

Now, to be sure the App Store is not an individual company or subsidiary of Apple. But its value is estimated to be worth $7.08 billion to Apple. That estimate is based on an analysis by Trefis that says Apple's App Store makes up 2% of the total market cap of the company. And actually as of close of market yesterday, RIM is worth even less than on Friday when the numbers were first run -- about $6.7 billion -- and Apple is worth more, so the App Store has actually increased its lead.

Not to kick a company while it's down (too late) that means that not only is RIM getting its butt kicked by Apple's iPhone, it's getting it's butt kicked by just the App Store that runs on the phone that's taking all its market share. What's worse is that there's really no sign of a turnaround strategy for RIM, although some bloggers think they have the answer.