ShareholderMeeting
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BlackBerry confirms one BB7-based phone shipping later this year
BlackBerry may see BB10 as the future of the company, but it isn't breaking with the past quite yet. Thorsten Heins just told those at BlackBerry's annual shareholder meeting that there will be one BB7-based phone this year. While he didn't elaborate further, there's a good chance he's referring to the Bold 9720 that reportedly leaked just hours ago. Don't expect a wide resurgence of BB7 devices, however. Heins mentioned that BlackBerry won't have more than six devices on sale at a time, and most of those slots will be occupied by BB10 hardware.
Microsoft selling four times as many Windows Phones as a year ago, won't say what that means
It's no secret that Windows Phone sales have been in the doldrums for much of the platform's existence. If we believe Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer's talk at the annual company shareholder meeting, however, the mobile OS has turned a corner. He tells investors that Windows Phone sales are about four times what they were at the same point last year, and that demand has been strong enough for initial sellouts in "many countries;" that may be an allusion to reported Lumia 920 shortages in Germany and Nokia's native Finland, among other regions. Ballmer is quick to point to more competitive hardware as triggering the sales spike. The news is certainly positive on the whole, although we'd warn that Microsoft is pulling an Amazon -- that is, declining to offer the shipment numbers that would give its grandiose claims some context. It's easy to tout record growth when you're starting from a small point, so we'll refrain from calling Windows Phone the Comeback Kid until market share estimates show otherwise.
RIM CEO hints at future BBM video chat feature
During today's shareholder meeting RIM CEO Thorsten Heins hinted that BBM, the companies celebrated group messaging service, might be getting some significant upgrades with the debut of BB10. In particular, the words "video chat" were tossed out as an example of how it planned to keep pace with the evolving mobile landscape. In response to a shareholder question, Heins said: "BBM is a very, strong platform... With upgrading it into a new experience, think about adding features on BB10 such as video chat, for example, within BBM. There's many other features to come with BB10 that will really level this BBM experience... which will upgrade that experience to a whole new social networking experience based on BBM... we want to use this to build a BlackBerry-driven social networking platform." So, does that mean BlackBerry is getting ready to take on Skype and Google? Perhaps. It would certainly make sense, but we'd stop short calling it a sure shot. What is clear, is that Heins really wants to push BlackBerry as the "social" platform focused on "experience" and seems content to let those other mobile OSes win the apps race.
Apple shareholder meeting scheduled for February 23
The luckiest (or smartest) people on Earth should be receiving their invitations soon -- shareholders in Apple, Inc. who have shares registered in their names can attend the annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday, February 23, 2011. The event is scheduled to begin at 10 AM PT at the company's offices in Cupertino, CA. As with most events of this type, Apple's executive team will not only reiterate any glowing financial news that should come out of the financial call (possibly next week), but there will be business to take care of. Among the items on the agenda are a vote for the company's board of directors (nominees include current board members Steve Jobs, Al Gore, Millard Drexler, William Campbell, Arthur Levinson, Andrea Jung and Ronald Sugar), a vote on whether accounting giant Ernst & Young should be the company's independent accounting firm, and shareholder proposals considering majority voting on director elections and succession planning. The company is recommending that shareholders vote against both of the shareholder proposals. If you have AAPL shares registered in your name, you may attend. If the shares are held by a brokerage firm or other organization, you're out of luck. (Photo: Wikimedia CC | Nurmib)
No Apple stock split...for now.
Thursday, Briefings.com, CNBC and a passel of other market analysts predicted that a 4 for 1 stock split would be announced at the Apple Shareholder Meeting. This rumor moved the market, but there are conflicting opinions to why. First, for the uninitiated, a stock split is a zero sum game. One interpretation is that a firm considers its stock too highly priced for the average consumer and decides to split. For example, let's say that Apple is trading for $200 and you have one share. If a 4 for 1 stock split takes place, you will wind up 4 shares, instead of 1, but each share will be valued at $50. Did you gain or lose any money? No. It's all on paper. However, to those not familiar with the Buttonwood tree, and that's a lot of us, it sounds like 'quick buy Apple and you'll be getting 4 times as much'. The case for this sort of stupidity is well made by Barrons. Stock splits are nothing new to AAPL. They've split 2 for 1 three time in the past, in June 1987, June 2000 and February 2005. There are two general schools of thought on the reason behind stock splits, and they are total opposites. The first theory is that a company will split a stock if it is in trouble to allow lower dollar investors to buy their shares at half the price and thus incur less risk. The other school of thought is that a good company realizes their stock is just too expensive for the small trader who has some cash on the sidelines. It is meant to give the small guy an easier way to buy some stock without needing to commit the $200 for a share. Both sides have their points and, to an extent, both points are based on smoke and mirrors since they do not effect the worth of the company or the aggregate value of the stock by one penny.
Jobs chided, answers questions at shareholder meeting
Yeah, we tend to think things like shareholder meetings are as boring as the next guy (well, the next guy who's not a stock broker, anyway), but Steve really took and dished out some heat at yesterday's get together.On Leopard's delay: "Leopard will be worth the wait. I wish developing great products was as easy as writing a check. If so, then Microsoft would have great products." (Snap!)On the iPhone: "A few of us have been using the iPhone a lot and if you wanted it back, you would have to pry it from our dead hands."On iTunes movie rentals: "One never knows."After being grilled by AFL/CIO on stock backdating: "I actually got my options at a higher price, but I didn't ask the company to reimburse me"On Anderson's comments: "I've worked with Fred for many years and I think he's an awfully good guy, but I thought his comments were a little wrong."Despite being lauded by Greenpeace reps for "A Greener Apple", he opined: "I think [Greenpeace] particularly depends too much on principle and not enough on fact. You guys rate people based on what people say their plans are in the distant future, not what they are doing today. I think you put way too much weight on these glorified principles and way too little weight on science and engineering. It would be very helpful if your organization hired a few more engineers and actually entered into dialog with companies to find out what they are really doing and not just listen to all the flowery language when in reality most of them aren't doing anything. That's my opinion."It ain't easy being Steve.
