Canadian Technology Stocks
Research in Motion completed another acquisition yesterday, and once again the move has tech geeks buzzing more than those who know the company by ticker symbol first. TAT, an acronym for The Astonishing Tribe is a company that was formed in Malmo, Sweden in 2002. TAT got a foothold in the rendering and structuring of [...]
The web-browser group at RIM today launched a video comparing the features of the Blackberry Playbook vs. the iPad. Expect this to be the first in a long line of shots across Apple’s bow. We already broken down for you how the Playbook’s is based on a whole new, some say revolutionary, new operating system [...]
It wasn’t received with much fanfare. When Research in Motion acquired QNX Software from Harman International this past April, the move was supposed to be the Blackberry maker’s entry into the automotive sector. As RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis pointed out, the deal would ” further integrate and enhance the user experience between smartphones and in-vehicle [...]
The war of words between Apple’s Steve Jobs and RIM Co-CEO’s Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis is heating up. First there was the almost comical response to “antenna gate” -the iPhone reception problems that were mysteriously aided by a plastic case Apple announced it would give away after the debacle. Now it’s RIM’s response to [...]
Negativity about Research in Motion: Six Counter Arguments This past Thursday, Research in Motion (TSX:RIM) reported its Q2 2011 results. The numbers, which beat the street’s expectations significantly, appeared strong enough to quell a growing negativity that has hounded the company and sent its shares near three year lows. The number of smartphone units that [...]
Are high resource prices masking an underlying crisis in the Canadian economy? No less of an authority than Denzil Doyle, who many believe could be the most important figure in Canadian technology history, thinks our economy is not nearly diverse enough. We talk to the man who was founding president of Digital Equipment Corporation’s Canadian subsidiary, invested in numerous technology startups as Chairman of Capital Alliance Ventures, and served on the board of Mitel, Gennum, GEAC Computer and Newbridge Networks about Nortel, taxes, the tar sands, and why Canada needs Research in Motion to stay independent.
When your business is growing by leaps and bounds, it can be easy to lose sight of the big picture. For mobile network operators worldwide, their current situation is a double edged sword. Because everyone, including your grandmother, now has a Blackberry or an iPhone, the congestion and data capacity crisis has come to a [...]
Innovate or die. That phrase was absolutely everywhere during the dot-com era. While a startup company that delivers pet food by mail, for instance, is hardly an innovation that resonates, this phrase has proved one worth remembering for more established companies looking to stay relevant. Last year, Cambridge’s COM DEV, a Company whose roots in aersopace go all the way back to the 70′s, launched exactEarth. This technology can aid in search and rescue, can help optimize shipping routes and, (perhaps most apropos of all) allows better environmental investigation and monitoring. We sat down with COM DEV CEO John Keating for “5 Questions” from Cantech Letter readers.
In 1992, RIM CEO Mike Lazaridis hired a 31 year old Harvard MBA named Jim Balsillie as VP of business development. Balsillie invested $125,000 of his own money and obtained a 33% interest in the fledgling company. Today, RIM has sold over 75 million smartphones. Released just weeks ago, Rod McQueen’s “Blackberry: The Inside Story of Research in Motion”, which recounts stories like this, is already a bestseller. We sat down with Rod to talk about the colorful history of Research in Motion. Oh, and that $125,000 that Jim Balsillie invested? We don’t want to spoil the end of the book for you or anything, but it worked out alright…
In May, 1996 Caseridge Capital’s Adam Adamou was a Senior Investment Manager at Working Ventures Canadian Fund Inc. Working Ventures’ mandate was to invest in small to mid-sized Canadian companies, with Adam focusing primarily on the technology sector. Pages 135-136 of “Blackberry:
The Inside Story of Research in Motion” notes that Adamou was the first person that Jim Balsillie pitched to in a pre-IPO institutional series of meetings. Weeks later, RIM sold 10 million special warrants at $3.40 to five institutions, including Working Ventures. In an interview with Dollarton’s Nick Waddell, Adamou recalls that meeting.
