research

No, arsenic is not a life-giver

I confess to not having been aware that arsenic might breathe life into things.

I had only been aware of it as something killers use in Agatha Christie novels.

However, in 2010, a researcher declared that a bacterium in California's Mono Lake (near Yosemite) thrived on arsenic, while being deprived of phosphorus. (I have embedded a discussion of this finding.)

At the time, Felisa Wolfe-Simon of NASA's Astrobiology Institute suggested that life as we know it may not be life as we know it.

Now, however, two new studies suggest that it may be life as we know … Read more

Could the delayed BlackBerry lead to lawsuits?

In June, Research In Motion suffered its worst month to date.

First, a $518 million quarterly loss. Second, its lowest share price since the company's peak in 2008. And last, a delay for the forthcoming line of BlackBerry models and an updated operating system that may make or break RIM's future.

Considering this, with RIM's annual meeting scheduled this week, CEO Thorsten Heins may not be looked upon with friendly eyes by investors.

Displeasure, and investors brooding over their dwindling stake, may not be the only thing to occupying shareholders' minds at the meeting. The New York Times … Read more

RIM's BlackBerry App World hits 3B download mark

Research In Motion finally has some good numbers to offset its recent wave of bad ones.

The handset maker announced Friday that its BlackBerry App World had reached the 3 billion download mark -- a billion of those in just the last six months. To reach that number, customers were downloading app at the rate of about 2.5 million per day from the collection of 90,000 apps.

As impressive as that sounds, those numbers pale in comparison with Apple's App Store, which announced in March that it had served up 25 billion downloads from its 650,000 … Read more

RIM bets on quality, not speed, as it fends off death spiral

With unprecedented losses, evaporating market share, and enough competitive pressure to smash it into irrelevancy, you'd think Research In Motion would show a bit of urgency.

In fact, it's showing quite the opposite.

Rather than rush out a half-baked product, the company said last week that it would push back the debut of BlackBerry 10 from later this year to the first quarter of 2013. Company executives say they believe the extra time will pay off with a more complete product.

"Doing it right is more important than doing it fast," Richard Piasentin, RIM's managing … Read more

In-app advertising set to hit $7 billion by 2015

Mobile applications will drive serious growth in mobile advertising in the coming years, according to a new study.

Juniper Research reported today that in-app advertising will hit $2.4 billion by the end of the year. By 2015, that figure will soar to $7.1 billion.

In-app advertising is widely viewed as the key to success for developers in the coming years. Mobile users are becoming increasingly loath to pay too much for applications, driving prices down. In-app advertising can help soften the blow of charging so little for an expensive app.

"In 2012, it will become increasingly difficult … Read more

RIM CEO: No, really, we're not in a 'death spiral'

Research In Motion, despite delays in its upcoming BlackBerry 10 operating system and continued disastrous financial performance, is just dandy.

That's according to RIM CEO Thorsten Heins, who denied the company was in a "death spiral" and said on a radio interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that "there was nothing wrong with the company as it exists now." The comments were picked up by Reuters.

Heins' comments come amid already high concerns that escalated after the company warned last week that phones running on its next-generation operating system wouldn't hit the market until … Read more

Google's advice for RIM (but they're not listening)

No one reason can fully explain why certain tech companies rock while others seem congenitally unable to add two plus two. Especially when you're talking about the soap opera atmosphere around Research In Motion, where the news goes from bad to worse.

On the back of new downgrades following the release of the company's fiscal first quarter earnings, RIM shares were trading down today more than 18 percent.

It was just happenstance, but RIM's earnings report hit the wire while Google was playing host to thousands of developers who had come to San Francisco to attend the … Read more

Did RIM just meet its Waterloo? (No, not Waterloo, Ontario)

Where to start? So much went so wrong during Research in Motion's fiscal first quarter that anyone looking for the proverbial silver lining in today's dismal earnings report would go blind.

By now even the most patient RIM investor is likely going to scream bloody murder after this mess of a report which was worse than many expected, if that's possible. The highlights:

The company lost $518 million, or 99 cents a share, compared with net earnings of $695 million, or $1.33 a share, in the same period a year earlier. Wall Street was expecting an &… Read more

Boost Mobile to launch unlimited BlackBerry Messenger plan

BlackBerry Curve 9310 owners will soon be able to IM as much as they want through a new plan offered by Boost Mobile.

Slated to kick off July 10, Boost Mobile's BBM Unlimited plan will provide worldwide and unlimited access to RIM's BlackBerry Messenger service. Unfortunately, most BlackBerry users will be out of luck as the offer is designed exclusively for the BlackBerry Curve 9310, RIM's new $99 smartphone set to debut the same day.

The BBM Unlimited plan throws in unlimited nationwide talking and texting for $45 a month. But customers who make their payments on … Read more