Reggie Middleton Boom Bust Blog

Bloomberg reports:

Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Research In Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, fell the most in six weeks in U.S. trading as a Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd. survey found more companies opting for rival devices such as Apple Inc.’s iPhone.

Of 200 companies in the U.S. and U.K. surveyed, 74 percent now let their employees use devices other than BlackBerrys, Sanford Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu said in a report today. For the U.S. alone, the figure was 83 percent.

“This phenomenon is very new and we expect it to put increased pressure on RIM’s performance,” Ferragu wrote.

The iPhone and devices based on Google Inc.’s Android software are making inroads into RIM’s dominance in corporate mobile e-mail. The European Commission, the executive arm of the 27-country European Union, this month opted for the iPhone and Android handsets made by HTC Corp. over the BlackBerry, after a similar move by Standard Chartered Bank Plc.

He reiterated his “underperform” rating on Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM’s shares and cut his price target to $40.

RIM fell $2.52, or 5.5 percent, to $43.06 at 2:47 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Earlier, the shares slid as much as 5.7 percent, the steepest intraday drop since July 16. They declined 33 percent this year before today, as Apple gained 15 percent.

Some other studies also suggest BlackBerry loyalty may be fading among bankers, lawyers and government workers, who drove RIM’s initial success. Only 42 percent of BlackBerry users say they want to stick with the brand when they buy a new phone, according to an August survey by Nielsen Co. The rate is 89 percent for iPhone owners and 71 percent for Android devices.

“The idea that BlackBerry isn’t the only alternative to offer employees mobile e-mail has gone a long way,” Ferragu said.