Sep
20
Written by:
host
9/20/2008 12:03 PM
Consider it a battle less for hearts and minds than for thumbs and ears. That's what may ensue between Apple (AAPL, news, msgs) and Research In Motion (RIMM, news, msgs), judging from recent Wall Street analyses and the performance of the companies' shares and marquee products.
Apple
is expected to sell 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008. Meanwhile,
Research In Motion has 12 million subscribers, and its iconic
BlackBerry is selling at a clip of about 4 million units a quarter.
Shares
in Apple have been trading near a record $200, while Research In Motion
reached a split-adjusted record of $137 a share in November.
Target
markets for the iPhone and BlackBerry are starting to overlap as well.
The iPhone is a media consumer's dream, playing movies and music with
ease. But it's not as finely tuned for the corporate user; large
companies have resisted letting employees use iPhones on corporate
networks, and information-technology consultant Gartner has advised its
corporate clients to avoid the iPhone for now.
Still, analysts
speculate that Apple is working on a corporate-friendly version of its
e-mail software or that Apple will announce it's working with a third
party to handle the job.
Meanwhile, BlackBerrys are taking on more iPhone-like trappings all the time.
The
BlackBerry has long been the staple of corporate users who focused
mostly on e-mail and calendar features, but Research In Motion has
recently been aiming for high-end consumers who might buy the device
for play as much as for work.
BlackBerrys now boast cameras that
shoot both still and video images. They also play music. Now, Research
In Motion is rumored by analysts and gadget blogs to be working on a
new device, the BlackBerry 9000, that sports a touch-sensitive screen
–- making it look an awful lot like an iPhone. The company declines to
comment on future products.
So are Apple and Research In Motion on a collision course? Opinions vary.