Clouds, corrections and castrations

Latest dispatches from the tablet wars: Google is full of surprises and RIM is, as ever, depressingly predictable.

Let’s start with the former. Google last week announced its new Nexus 7 tablet, which will feature a pretty sharp-looking 7-inch screen and some good processing muscle. We wrote about how one thing lacking from this otherwise impressive device was storage capacity: it has a mere 8-16GB and lacks an SD expansion slot. Our blogger pointed out that while Google would have you keep your eyes on the cloud–not physical storage–some users won’t be swayed.
But reader rvshs3 didn’t think storage would be a deal breaker for this device:

“An SD expansion would have been great but at this day and age there are plenty of storage clouds to hovering above you.”

Perhaps there were more important concerns about the Nexus 7, anyway. If the cloud is to replace physical storage, one would hope that the Canadian customers will get the same access to it as their American neighbours. At least commenter “Castrated in Canada” thought so:

“Will the Nexus 7 also be ‘castrated’ in Canada as was the Amazon Fire?”

Ouch.

Back now to RIM, which seems to be facing a worse fate than castration (death). When we reported that RIM had lost a bunch more money and would delay BB10 even longer, one reader felt that we ought to stop writing about something  becoming increasingly obvious to everyone:

“We didn’t need an in depth analysis of the situation to predict the sinking of RIM,” wrote Frank. “The changeover of management came too late, the previous executives overstayed their own house and should have left when everybody was telling them to do so! Now it’s too late. Another Canadian flagship enterprise that will follow the Titanic path by trying to do too much too late and too fast.”

Apologies, but you have to expect us to cover RIM while it’s still around, for however long that may be. In a podcast, Howard Solomon spoke about RIM’s prognosis, its potential quality of life and maybe, its eventual reincarnation.

Rita Pollock contended that negative commentary from pundits was a big factor in RIM’s illness in the markets:
“Blackberry was a profitable company and the shares were good value. Then the naysayers came out on all levels because they didn’t have the market share they used to have and there were delays in bringing on the new products. The delay certainly hurt them but the negative response at all levels in my opinion was the major downfall for Blackberry.’
 
She called for more patience and more realistic expectations:


“As a Canadian I hope they will succeed. I will support them to the end. I support companies ,not the shareholders, who constantly want more and more profit instead of a reasonable return every year. No company can continue to increase shares forever. It isn’t realistic and this concept has destroyed many companies. When does this attitude end?”
Torch_User, meanwhile, had some pointed criticism of the math Solomon had used:
 
“Mr. Solomon should educate himself in financial accounting before making statements that after reporting [a] $500 million loss in a quarter RIM will lose $2 billion after four quarters. [A] $500 million loss consists of items like depreciation and other non-monetary items and because of that, RIM’s cash balance actually went up by $100 million after reporting [a] $500 million loss.”

Would you recommend this article?

Share

Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think of this article!
We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication.


Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

Featured Download

Featured Articles

Cybersecurity in 2024: Priorities and challenges for Canadian organizations 

By Derek Manky As predictions for 2024 point to the continued expansion...

Survey shows generative AI is a top priority for Canadian corporate leaders.

Leaders are devoting significant budget to generative AI for 2024 Canadian corporate...

Related Tech News

Tech Jobs

Our experienced team of journalists and bloggers bring you engaging in-depth interviews, videos and content targeted to IT professionals and line-of-business executives.

Tech Companies Hiring Right Now