Research in Motion Changed its name to Blackberry!
By Rachid Antari
Morocco News Tribune
Oklahoma City, U.S.A−Research In Motionannounced on Wednesday during the launch event for its latest version of its mobile operating system BlackBerry 10 that it is adopting its flagship phone name; the Blackberry as the company’s official new name to fit with its brand of smartphones.
This will be the first time the company has changed its name since its inception in 1984 by University of Waterloo engineering student Mike Lazaridis and University of Windsor engineering student Douglas Fregin.
“It is one brand, it is one promise,” Chief Executive Thorsten Heins said at the event. “From today on, we are BlackBerry everywhere in the world.”
As approved by RIM’s board of directors, the name change will take effect on Monday. The company’s stock symbol will also change to BBRY on the NASDAQ Exchange and BB on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
According to Clive Chajet, one of the world’s leading experts in corporate images and brands, in an interview with International Business Times, RIM’s move make business sense. “It’s exactly the right thing for them to do to increase brand awareness.”, he said.
However, in today’s trading, RIM shares fell another 80 cents to $12.98, still 82 percent above their price six months ago as investors did not return the love back and seem to be reluctant to embrace the potential success of the new $200.00 Z10, which will not be available in U.S. and Canada until mid-March.
RIM is not the first or the last tech company to change its name, yet this is clearly another attempt by the Canadian tech company to resurrect itself into competing with the Apple’s iPhone &and Samsung’s Galaxy series in an ever-changing market dominated by post PC era products and solutions.
