Lucius Fox

April 14th 2012

Apple and RIM hit with patent suit for “drag,” “tap” and “scroll”

A Texas shell company says Apple and others have infringed on technology for basic smartphone gestures like dragging and “double tap.” The patents were issued in 2007 to a Taiwanese maker of touchpad technology.

In lawsuits filed this week, a shell called “Touchscreen Gestures” claims devices like the iPhone, the iPad and the Blackberry Playbook are infringing on its technology. A related suit accuses Samsung’s Galaxy tablet of violating the same patents.

The patents are US Patent 7190356 (“A method of identifying double tap gesture”), US Patent 7180506 (“A method for identifying a movement of single tap 7180506) and US Patent 7184031 (“A method identifying a drag gesture”).

Posted at 5:53pm and tagged with: Apple, Apple Inc., APPL, RIM, Research In Motion, RIMM, Patents, Law, Intellectual Property, IP,.

April 11th 2012

Is RIM’s Hardware Division in the Red?

1 note

As if Research In Motion’s immediate future wasn’t already bleak enough, today comes more ugly news. RIM’s latest regulatory filing implies that its flagship hardware division may be losing money.

The document reveals that in RIM’s February 2012 fiscal year, gross margins on hardware fell to 20 percent from 36 percent on a GAAP basis, and to 25 percent on a non-GAAP basis. And, according to Jefferies analyst Peter Misek, if you factor operating costs and inventory charges into those numbers, hardware-operating margins slip into negative territory: -8 percent on a GAAP basis; -3 percent on a non-GAAP basis, or -4 percent on an adjusted non-GAAP basis.

Posted at 3:41pm and tagged with: BlackBerry, Research In Motion, RIM, RIMM, Technology, Mobile, Devices, Hardware, Business,.

March 28th 2012

Research In Motion Earnings: The RIM Reaper Cometh

1 note

Research In Motion will post its fiscal fourth-quarter results this Thursday, and Wall Street analysts are already gritting their teeth in anticipation.

To wit, this recent note from Barclays Capital analyst Jeff Kvaal, which sums up RIM’s situation heading into earnings under the headline “Grim And Getting Grimmer.”

Posted at 4:48pm and tagged with: Research In Motion, RIM, Research In Motion Limited, RIMM, Business, Finance,.

January 24th 2012

Markets Are Not Convinced by a New Leader at RIM

12 notes

Thorsten Heins, the newly appointed chief executive of the BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, introduced himself to skeptical securities analysts on Monday and shares of the company fell 8.5 percent.

As he did during interviews with the media on Sunday, Mr. Heins, the former co-chief operating officer of RIM, said in a conference call with analysts and in a video RIM posted to YouTube that RIM’s strategy was sound and destined for success. Mr. Heins, who came to RIM from Siemens about four years ago, emphasized the company’s continued profitability and growth while playing down its precipitous drop in American market share — where it once held more than 50 percent it is now under 10 percent — and a 75 percent drop in the company’s share price over the last year.

Posted at 11:34am and tagged with: RIM, Research In Motion, Business, Finance, BlackBerry, Mobile, Devices, Technology, Thorsten Heins,.

January 23rd 2012

Boardroom in motion

1 note

“THERE comes a time in the growth of every successful company when the founders recognise the need to pass the baton to new leadership.” So said Mike Lazaridis, the creator of Research in Motion (RIM), in a press release on January 22nd that announced changes at the top of the company that makes the BlackBerry. Among other things, Mr Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie will step down from their positions as co-chief executives of the Canadian firm, handing the reins to Thorsten Heins, one of its co-chief operating officers. Messrs Lazaridis and Balsillie will also relinquish their roles as co-chairmen of RIM’s board. Instead, it will be headed by Barbara Stymiest, a former bigwig in Canadian finance.

Posted at 1:43pm and tagged with: Research In Motion, RIM, BlackBerry, Mobile, Devices, Technology, Business,.

January 11th 2012

Use An iPhone? Yup, The Government Tracks That

20 notes

Last week, an Indian hacker crew successfully broke into a secured Indian military government network. The group, the Lords of Dharmaraja, posted documents that infer Apple, Nokia, and Research In Motion gave the Indian government backdoor access to their devices in exchange for mobile phone market rights. Indian government officials say the files are forgeries; however, they fit in perfectly with what we know about mobile phone surveillance in 2012.

Posted at 2:54pm and tagged with: Security, Mobile, Mobile Devices, Government, OEMs, Apple, Research In Motion, RIM, Nokia, Privacy, Hacking, India, BRIC,.