RIM: The End of a Rocky Road

There are plenty of calls for RIM to be sold or "salvaged", perhaps with a joint venture, but the clock is ticking, says ThinkEquity analyst Mark McKechnie. He believes the situation will get worse for RIM before it gets better, as iPhone 5 rolls out and Android continues to launch new operating systems. "We are disappointed on the margin that RIMM has not made any real strategic shift relative to its declining position and argue they are misexecuting on a flawed strategy," McKechnie wrote. He cites three options RIM should take: "put the handset business into maintenance mode, focus on subscriber revenues by opening the BlackBerry platform to Android and/or iOS, and attempt to monetize their patent portfolio either through a licensing program or more likely an all-out sale of the company." CEO Heins said on the conference call he did not have anything to announce on this front.

Research In Motion's future is murky at best, but the company (and unfortunately the town of Waterloo, Ontario) looks like it is at the end of the road, out of gas and there's no one in sight to call AAA.

Shares of Research In Motion were down sharply in Friday trade, off 18.95% to $7.40.

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--Written by Chris Ciaccia in New York

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