Remember the old, stodgy Research in Motion? Now forget it.
Bad old RIM, renamed BlackBerry in 2013 for its signature product, has taken a deep drink from the fountain of relevance. But it’s investors who are feeling refreshed: Since Dec. 9, shares have spouted 70 percent.
What has to make it all the sweeter is that RIM was nearly driven out of business largely due to the juggernaut of Apple’s iPhone — and Apple has dropped 6 percent in that same period.
What a difference a new year (and new CEO John Chen) can make. In an amazingly brief time, BlackBerry has revolutionized its image from maker of increasingly irrelevant phones to creator of more innovative devices and cutting-edge software — even outmaneuvering the formidable Microsoft.
Just last week, word got out that Ford is seriously mulling switching from Windows to BlackBerry’s QNX for its next-generation Sync system.
Also last week, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, BlackBerry introduced a new roster of phone products.
All in all, it’s quite a transformation. To accomplish it, BlackBerry seems to be following a classic blueprint.
“Usually, these [endangered] companies have to break some glass,” said Michael Holland, who heads the New York money-management firm Holland & Co. and is frequently a TV financial guest. “I look for an indication that the company and its management have seen the light and now understand how to re-pop the company and the stock with new ideas.”
And Holland has seen the process at work before. “It was done at IBM when [Louis] Gerstner took over,” he said.
In BlackBerry’s case, pundits had been hammering the theme of Apple’s and Samsung’s gadgets leaving BlackBerry’s in the dust when it came to innovation.
The solution? “A company needs to show it has a new approach, and that it can improve in its marketing, product offerings and image,” Holland said.
Investors seem to agree that the new BlackBerry has more than met that standard.