A U.S. federal agency that has been phasing out the BlackBerry in favor
of the iPhone said on Thursday it would test Research In Motion's new
BB10 smartphones, fueling a fresh spurt in RIM's shares ahead of the new
line's launch.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an
investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, will
begin a pilot program early next year to test the new line and the
software to manage them on its network.
The news, which sent RIM
shares up more than 6 percent on Thursday morning, extends a weeks-long
rally that has pushed the stock to its highest close in more than seven
months.
Investors have warmed to the stock which had lost about 75
percent of its value in the last two years on evidence that the
make-or-break BB10 line is gaining traction with RIM's bread-and-butter
customers in the weeks before its January 30 launch.
RIM, a
one-time pioneer in the smartphone industry, has lost market share in
recent years to Apple's iPhone and devices powered by Google's
market-leading Android operating system. Even RIM's core business
customers, who once used BlackBerry devices almost exclusively, have
been defecting in droves.
BB10 represents Waterloo, Ontario-based
RIM's best hope of persuading both corporations and government users to
stick with its smartphones, long valued for their strong security
features. RIM promises the new line, powered by the BlackBerry 10
operating system, will perform more smoothly and with more speed than
previous BlackBerrys.
ICE is one of the customers it hopes to win over.
"Our
priority is to ensure that ICE and all government agencies understand
the full capabilities of the new BlackBerry 10 platform and how it can
help them meet their mobility needs today and in the future," said Scott
Totzke, RIM's senior vice president of BlackBerry Security.
ICE
in October announced plans to end a long relationship with RIM, saying
that its aging lineup of BlackBerry devices could "no longer meet the
mobile technology needs of the agency." At the time, ICE said it would
buy iPhones for about 17,600 employees.
A spokeswoman for the agency said on Thursday ICE is not backing away from either Apple or RIM.
"Given
the nature of a rapidly evolving marketplace for mobile computing and
the rising expectations of our users the pilot with RIM is a prudent
technology management practice," said Barbara Gonzalez, the agency's
press secretary.
Gonzalez said the agency is developing mobile
applications for law enforcement and it is looking into how BlackBerry
10 may be able to provide mobility solutions in the future.
"ICE and RIM have had a long and good relationship, and we plan to continue that relationship," she said.
Security advantage
Last
month, RIM said it had won a much-coveted U.S. government security
clearance for its BlackBerry 10 devices and its new enterprise
management platform.
The company said it was the first time a
BlackBerry product had won Federal Information Processing Standard
(FIPS) 140-2 certification ahead of launch.
The certification,
from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, is one of the
minimum criteria for products used by U.S. government agencies and other
regulated industries that store, transfer, share and disseminate
sensitive information.
The stamp of approval gives many of RIM's
security-conscious enterprise clients confidence that data on
smartphones running BlackBerry 10 can be properly secured and encrypted.
RIM,
which has begun beta testing its mobile device management software
BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 with a handful of key enterprise
customers, said ICE will be one of the first government organizations to
pilot the BlackBerry 10 devices.
Shares surge
RIM shares
closed on Thursday 4.1 percent higher at $13.86, after rising as high as
$14.16 on the Nasdaq. Its Toronto-listed shares ended the day 3.7
percent higher at C$13.63.
A day earlier RIM shares rallied after
favorable comments by Eric Jackson, a long-time bear on RIM's stock. In a
piece published on Thestreet.com, he wrote that he now has a long
position in RIM, dropping his bets that the stock would drop.
Jackson
said the positive sentiment building in RIM's stock is unlikely to
dissipate any time soon. He said many of RIM's 80 million subscribers
are likely to upgrade to the BB10 when the new devices are launched.
The stock has more than doubled in price since September 24, when RIM's shares were trading slightly above the $6 level.
© Thomson Reuters 2012
Is this the BlackBerry 10 L-Series smartphone?