TechStew

Good Night RIM & Nokia Research In Motion Once the king of the smartphone market RIM could run out of cash and ultimately fail, even with the launch of its now-delayed BlackBerry 10 device early next year. It was late to the consumer market, where Apple and a legion of Google Android phones have crushed it. BlackBerry 10, considered to be RIM's make-or-break product, was originally slated to be launched in the first quarter of 2013 and the delay has already contributed to a 40 percent drop in the company's stock price so far this year. The delay also caused its US market share to dip from 44% in 2009 to only 10% in 2011. Data from research group Comscore shows that share has fallen further this year. RIM cannot survive as a standalone operation in the face of these trends. The Wall Street Journal recently reported “outright buyers could include Asian handset makers like HTC or online retailer Amazon.com which has recently jumped into the tablet business.

  The  Nasdaq Index fell 1.18% today as  Google, and Microsoft reported weak performances in the previous quarter. The two tech giants are usually seen as proxies for the wider economic condition, in part because their business fortunes tend to fluctuate with global spending. Google’s advertising revenue, which still makes up the bulk of its business, it closely tied to the wider economy, and Microsoft still makes a lot of its money off desktop software sales, which also fluctuate with the economy. Google’s quarterly results fell short of Wall Streets expectations; the initial report stated a 20% decrease in revenue resulting in the Internet giant’s stock drop of 9%. The earnings report, which had not been expected until after the market close, revealed a weakening in Google's core Internet advertising business and persistent losses at its recently acquired cellphone business, Motorola Mobility. The slowdown in revenue growth came on the back of f...