• EcoATM, a new startup out of San Diego, just introduced their new e-cycling kiosks.
• First, the machine electronically inspects the phone for damage and automatically give it a real-time secondary market value.  If it’s actually worth something, you can opt for an in-store payment or simply donate the money to your favorite charity.  If the phone’s not worth anything, it goes into the recycling bin.
• EcoATM’s first location at the Nebraska Furniture Mart saw such success that they’ll be installing machines at wireless and big box stores in and around San Diego as well as Washington state and Vermont.
• The company is promising nationwide machines by the 2nd quarter of next year where they’ll be able to accept other gadgets like cameras, laptops, and MP3 players.  What a great startup.

• T-Mobile and AT&T both currently plan on announcing the Bold 2 — also known as the Onyx — on October 21. Not impressed by the latest design, but ditching the track ball in favor of the new touch ball is a big plus for Blackberry fans. Before the new phone drops, RIM plans on releasing this gem below. An all white Blackberry Bold.

• Following last week’s Fortune Brainstorm event in Pasadena, CA, I got into an interesting 10 minute convo with  a RIM executive. What were the topics of discussion? Apps, TelCo Reliability, iPhone and Hardware. This executive had the following to say: (this was not to be shared, but after numerous failed attempts to continue a conversation via email, I decided to post the main points of the convo. I will at least honor his anonymity).
• Apps: While RIM has been trying to find a way to stay competitive, he admitted that Blackberry App World has not been a rocket success in terms of app volume and developer popularity. “It’s tough when you are going up against a company operating one platform and perfecting a single piece of hardware”.
• TelCo Reliability: He said that RIM is fortunate to have so many solid relationships with the best TelCo’s globally. “It’s been a strong advantage in the market, especially the US, to offer devices across more than just one network”. When I asked him about AT&T, he said that it hasn’t been near the nightmare for them that Apple has seen with the iPhone/AT&T.
• iPhone: He said the iPhone is a great phonne, but he thinks Blackberry will continue to have strong growth. “They’re different phones”. He specifically pointed out the heavy adoption rates for 18-25 year olds this past year. “All of their friends are on BBM, and it’s addicting”. I couldn’t agree more with this statement. In Los Angeles, I am still heavily outnumbered in my group of friends and 95% of them say they will never give up their Blackberry because of all their friends on BBM (Blackberry Messenger).
• Hardware: This is where things got interesting. I asked him what RIM planned to do if the iPhone were to have upgraded their hardware to include a front-facing camera. His response was “as I said before, we are fortunate to have our relationships with many different carriers, some of which can handle something like live video-conferencing”. In other words, he and his team weren’t worried about the iPhone launching front-facing video-chat so long as they are with AT&T. The last thing he said to me was “video conferencing is something that could completely change the mobile landscape and it is something we have been thinking about and working on for quite some time. You will start seeing something early next year”.

• Although combined, Apple [AAPL] and Research In Motion [RIMM] only represent 3% of cell phones worldwide, the two are dominating global cell phone market. According to a recent report by Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Modoff (via WSJ), Apple and RIM account for 35% of global cell phone market profits (It is being said Apple represents 20%). Wow. Nokia, who sold 46% of cell phones last year, earned 55% of the industry’s profits.  As that balance of power continues to shift, Nokia’s stronghold on the industry will continue to loosen, as the Finnish handset maker struggles to compete in the high-margin smartphone business (no cares about the N97)

• GigaOm (7/14/2009) “Verizon (NYSE: VZ) wants to build its own app store, and is planning a July 28 event to entice developers to its platform. Like everyone else wooing programmers, the company hopes to get the equivalent of the in-crowd building the hottest apps that will elevate its store, and thus its phones and network, to the level of popularity that Apple’s iPhone currently enjoys. But getting a critical mass of developers building great software isn’t an easy task. And while Verizon is romancing developers, the carrier isn’t as solicitous of its handset partners. Verizon’s Ryan Hughes, VP Partner Management, said in an interview Friday that the network operator’s app store will be the sole marketplace on devices sold by the company, meaning stores such as Research In Motion’s BlackBerry App World or Microsoft’s Windows Mobile Marketplace won’t get placement on Verizon handsets unless a consumer downloads them”
• For those thinking that the iPhone is soon headed to Verizon, think again. If Verzion wants to lock up the deck like this and control their own app store, Apple will have nothing to do with them. How Verizon thinks they can have one single app store to work correctly  seamlessly across all their devices, they have a ton of bricks coming their way. Just more stupidity coming out of mid-level management in the mobile telecom industry.

• Legitimate pics of the new Blackberry Storm 2 in the wild. This is a test device, similar to the Palm Pre’s already walking around. What does this mean? You can expect a revamped Storm by the end of the year.

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• The new Blackberry was seen walking the streets. With code name “Onyx”, this phone should be hitting T-Mobile in September. Very similar to the Curve 8900 but with 3G connectivity and an update keyboard.(Crackberry)

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• Apple’s iPhone was not the most-purchased smartphone in the first quarter of 2009 according to SAI and research firm NPD Group. That title goes to RIM’s BlackBerry Curve 8300 series. Although the Curve was on sale at more carriers and had a buy-one, get-one free sale at Verizon Wireless during the quarter, this is still a big get for Blackberry.
  

  Q1 2009 Top ‘Five’ Smartphones:

  1. RIM BlackBerry Curve (all 83XX models)
  2. Apple iPhone 3G (all models)
  3. RIM BlackBerry Storm
  4. RIM BlackBerry Pearl (all models, except flip)
  5. T-Mobile G1

• Smartphones accounted for 23% of U.S. phone sales in Q1, up 6% from Q1 ‘08. AT&T said it activated 1.6 million iPhones during Q1, to give you an idea of just how may Curves were purchased.

Looking For A Job Or Need To Hire? Join The Thousands On TinyComb’s Job Board

• Sometimes you just have to drop the ball and let the whole world know you f’d up. Such is the case with RIM and their first touch screen release, The Storm. After months of harsh criticism and poor sales, the Storm 2 is already in the works and is on it’s way to release at the end of this year or Q1 of 2010. Alain Segond von Banchet, Channel Sales manger for RIM in the Netherlands, reportedly spoke freely about the BlackBerry Storm 2 during the TeleVisie 2009 Expo in the Netherlands yesterday.
• Of the topics discusses, the Storm 2 will see an improved touch input method along with Wi-Fi capabilities. They will be ditching the SurePress technology and launching TruePress, which is rumored to be much more user-friendly and requires little to no push. According to BGR, Segond von Banchet supposedly also claimed that RIM will be slowing down the release schedule for devices in 2009 with no new devices except for the Storm 2, which means the Niagara will not be seeing light until 2010.
• What I hope is happening with RIM is they are going to take their third-party app platform seriously and make it a desireable enviornment for developers to want to jump on board. It’s tough to want to develop a set of apps for a phone lineup that has two completely seperate input methods (one physical, one sucky push-touch). Delaying all new devices until they are all one point with the new Storm 2 makes a hell of a lot more sense than to just keep rolling out similar looking devices with new names.

Must read RIM stories:

Blackberry Bullish On The Down Market

New Blackberry Photos Out In The Wild. Not Impressed

RIM Executives Caught In Options Scandal

• A long awaited addition has been made to the Blackberry App lineup.  Pandora finally released it’s version 1 service for Blackberry users this morning.
• What’s the Catch?  It doesn’t work on T-mobile, and, according to intomobile, the Storm either….too bad.
• Pandora does say on it’s website that more handsets will be supported soon, so hopefully that means the Storm, or that’d be just another disappointment to all owners of the mediocre-at-best touchscreen device.

Check out these related post:

Pandora Inches Closer To The Deadpool Over Royalty Fees

Blackberry Bullish On The Down Market

New Blackberry Photos Out In The Wild. Not Impressed

My Top 15 iPhone Apps Of 2008

• Research in Motion, maker of the popular Blackberry line of handsets, will apparently recruit an extra 3,000 staff in 2009. This will bring the total number of people on payroll to 15,000. With thousands of layoffs in the mobile industry including companies like Motorola in the last year, talent is plentiful and a good investment for a cash rich company like RIM (NASDAQ: RIMM).
• RIM is one of the few tech companies bullish on the down market right now, as they have already hired more than 7,000 new employees over the last 18 months. Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis says “this is the exact time to invest – if you can – because not only is there opportunity, but there are lots of resources out there.” If I were Lazardis, I would be putting my money in improving my design team. A major factor in the success of the iPhone is their design teams ability to understand the logisicts of how a phone can translate from paper to a solid user experience once it comes off the production line. In RIM’s case, the Blackberry Storm may have been a good idea conceptually, but when put into motion, was a giant failure. First on my agenda would be to fire whoever decided that when trying to attract third-party developers with a standardized platform, creating a touch screen phone that requires a user to ‘push’ the screen down would be a good idea.

• Looks like the Blackberry is sticking to what they know as far as handset designs go. Last week we saw the Blackberry Niagara, now this photo confirms the rumors of a Blackberry Gemini. Looks to be somewhere between an 8300 Curve and a 8900. With push email becoming ubiquitous on phones, combined with RIM’s (NASDAQ: RIMM) inability to produce a high quality touch screen, attractive app store and dated designs, what is the company to do? Here are the specs from the Gemini.
  • OS 5.0
  • 320×240 resolution screen
  • QWERTY (really?)
  • Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
  • Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n (again, not too sure on the n part)
  • 2.0 megapixel camera

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iPhone 3.0 Operating System On The Way

Palm Investor Overhypes The Pre. UPDATE: Palm Responds

Google’s Android To Take Over The iPhone By 2012

Steve Ballmer Gets A Real Question From The Crowd

• In a recessed economy where millions are out of work and executive compensation is under harsh scrutiny, the last thing you want to get yourself into is an options scandal. Well, the SEC dropped the ball on Ontario, Canada-based Research In Motion (RIMM) today, whose executives have been illegally backdating stock options since 1998. They will face immediate punishment. Here is what the filing says:

Chief Financial Officer Dennis Kavelman, former Vice President of Finance Angelo Loberto, and Co-Chief Executive Officers James Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis illegally granted undisclosed, in-the-money options to RIM executives and employees by backdating millions of stock options over an eight-year period from 1998 through 2006. As alleged in our complaint, RIM and its highest level executives engaged in widespread backdating of options which provided them and other employees with millions of dollars in undisclosed compensation. Companies and executives who attempt to conceal their fraudulent conduct from investors and regulators will be held accountable (Linda Chatman Thomsen, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement).

• In summary, the SEC alleges that the defendants made false and misleading disclosures about how RIM priced and accounted for options. In addition, according to the complaint, the backdating violated the terms of RIM’s stock option plan and a listing requirement of the Toronto Stock Exchange. The complaint also alleges that Kavelman and Loberto knowingly hid the backdating from regulators, RIM’s independent auditor and outside lawyer. Kavelman and Lobertowould pick low strike prices within reporting periods and in some instances avoided the lowest price so regulators would not detect the backdating. The allegations also detail that all four executives were aware of backdating issues and lied to shareholders at RIM’s July 2006 annual shareholder meeting
• Here is a breakdown of what each executive will have to pay in penalty. $500,000 for Kavelman; $425,000 for Loberto; $350,000 for Balsillie; and $150,000 for Lazaridis. The individual defendants also agreed to disgorge the in-the-money value of backdated options they had exercised ($132,914.60 for Kavelman, $47,950.56 for Loberto, $334,250 for Balsillie and $328,300 for Lazaridis) plus interest. Their disgorgement will be deemed satisfied by their previous payment of these amounts to RIM.

Other must read RIM articles:

Screenshots And Analysis Of Blackberry’s Storefront

Blackberry Curve 8900 Coming Early For Business Customers

Blackberry Bold To Lose Orange Contract

• In light of continued complaints of bugs and inability to clear shelves, Amazon has decided to lower the price of Blackberry’s touch screen Storm to $99. This is the second retailer to offer an incentive since Verizon’s own buy-one get-one-free offer. Amazon’s offer instantly knocks off $250 without even the need to fill out a form or wait in the mail for a check. Pretty embarrassing for RIM.

Other must read RIM articles:

Screenshots And Analysis Of Blackberry’s Storefront

Blackberry Bold To Lose Orange Contract

Blackberry Storm Update Has Issues

• RIM has released official images of their Blackberry application center, the Blackberry Storefront. RIM is yet another mobile manufacturer who thinks a standard platform that allows third-party developers in to sell applications is going to solve everything for the company. Palm has just released their plans of having a platform for third party developers, Android already has theirs (with paid apps coming soon), and several others are planned to be released this year.
• Research In Motion is looking to launch their store in the next 6 weeks, and it took a major step forward when it started accepting applications from app writers to be included in the launch. Blackberry has a few apps already, but have been widely disliked thus far. Apps like Facebook for the Blackberry aren’t nearly as intuitive and functional as they are on the iPhone.
• Some worry that because of the Blackberry lineup of phones, some developers will be turned off. The Storm’s ‘half-push, half-touch’ screen make it difficult to mimic games already popular for some developers on the iPhone who are interested in testing out another platform. Also, the Blackberry Curve and Bold both have standard non-touch QWERTY keyboards with scroll balls, another turnoff for potential developers not only for non-compatibility, but overall lack of intuitiveness. Apple is currently King of app developers and sales. They just passed the 500 million app download mark this past week. RIM will be succesfful if they can recruit 1/3 of the amount of developers using iPhone’s SDK. They are off to a decent start however, offering a special VC fund to help find developers and grow apps for its platform.
• Do you think other manufacturer’s can compete with Apple in the standard platform market? Does RIM stand a chance with their phone lineup? I think Android Market will be the only real competitor to Apple’s store and that RIM doesn’t stand a chance beyond the no-brainer apps you expect to see on their phones.