AGORACOM Launches Portfolio Feature!
We are proud to announce that the much anticipated Portfolio feature is now live. Track your favorite US and Canadian stocks in one place., as well as, market indices and even your net wealth.
To access your portfolio, click on "My AGORACOM" at the very top of the page, and then click on "Portfolio" in the left hand navigation.
You can also access your portfolio by clicking on the "View/Edit My Portfolio" from within your "HUB Controls" on the left side of the page.
Thank-you for making AGORACOM the best small-cap community on the web. Look for more great tools and updates to help you. Post comments and feedback to George's blog.
Regards,
George, Paul and the AGORACOM Team
SIMON AVERY
TECHNOLOGY REPORTER
As the wireless data market expands from e-mail to new features such as maps, GPS locators and multimedia, Research In Motion Ltd. is shifting its strategy to try to stay ahead of its largest competitors.
In what some say is a coming-of-age story, RIM has started sharing more details about its proprietary technology with independent software developers in a bid to get them to write more programs for the BlackBerry.
Even though RIM launched the mobile data craze with the invention of the BlackBerry, the Waterloo, Ont., company is playing catch-up against larger rivals that have longer relationships with the developer community.
Software developers tend to create for the technology platform they think will give their products the greatest reach. Microsoft Corp.'s dominance of the desktop environment through its Windows software means that many more developers write programs to run on Microsoft systems than on BlackBerry technology.
Analysts say the imbalance is causing both handset makers and corporate customers to look at Microsoft's mobile technology as a natural choice for on-the-go access to business applications -- a market that RIM would like to lead.
Although Microsoft did not enter the wireless market until 2002, it expects sales of handsets loaded with its Windows Mobile operating system to hit 20 million by the end of June. The Redmond, Wash., company recently forecast that the figure could double by June, 2008. In comparison, about eight million people are using RIM devices around the world today.
Until now, RIM has kept tight rein on the BlackBerry platform so that it could control the security, quality and performance of its product. Once the technology is firmly established, it becomes important to open it up for more developers, analysts say.
"If RIM is viewed as a closed, proprietary environment that is difficult to develop on, it will be dead in the water as we move to the next generation," said Maribel Lopez, an analyst with Forrester Research Inc.
The decision to loosen the controls and share more technical information is "a very strategic move" for the company, she said.
"It tells us RIM is opening up its treasure chest to allow us to exploit special features and functions available on the BlackBerry device," said Brent Peters, chief technology officer of RepeatSeat Ltd. The Calgary company's software lets people review entertainment guides and buy tickets online. By the fall, Mr. Peters hopes to have the technology ready for BlackBerry users, who will be able to get their tickets in the form of a bar code on their device that can be scanned for entry to movies, concerts or other events.
"Everything you see online, like MySpace, I think you're going to see on [smart] phones in future, and people are going to be tied to their mobile devices," added Bob Christianson, executive vice-president and chief operating officer of RepeatSeat.
By sharing more of its code for applications written in the Java language, RIM says it hopes to capitalize on popular trends occurring on the Web, such as social networking, music and video programs, and services that locate users through the global positioning system.
"Push e-mail paved the way for the early success of this market, but mobile applications will drive the next phase," Mike Lazaridis, RIM president and co-chief executive officer, said in a release. The company did not respond to requests for further comment.
Developers have been moving to RIM's Java environment at an increasing rate. The community doubled last year and stands at more than 125,000 today. That is a strong base for building new products, but the company is still far behind Microsoft, which has more than 650,000 developers writing for its Windows Mobile platform.
Palm Inc., meanwhile, no longer releases information on the size of its developer community, but says there are more than 29,000 software titles available.
While the number of developers writing for a platform doesn't tell the whole story, it is an important metric, Ms. Lopez said. "You never know where the next great invention is coming from."
*****
By the numbers
Worldwide total smart-phone device market
| OS vendor | Q4 06 unit sales | % market share | Q4 05/Q4 06% growth unit sales |
| Symbian | 14.7 million | 72.5 | 37.38 |
| Linux | 3.4 million | 16.9 | 3.03 |
| PalmSource | 400,000 | 2 | -20 |
| Microsoft | 900,000 | 4.6 | 125 |
| RIM | 800,000 | 3.8 | 55 |
| Total | 20.2 million | 100 | |
SOURCE: CANALYS.COM LTD.
0 members recommend this.
Bob updates shareholders on recent corporate changes.
