Research In Motion (RIMM) May Dodge The iPhone

Research In Motion’s (RIMM) stock is up over 150% during the last year. That is much better than Apple’s (AAPL) 110%.

In RIMM’s last quarter, revenue was up 76% to $1.1 billion. Net rose 723% to $223 million. RIMM also said its next quarter’s revenue would be above $1.3 billion and that it would enter the Chinese market, which should help the company’s future quarters.

A new study from ChangeWave Research indicates that the new Apple iPhone is likely to take share from Nokia (NOK), Palm (PALM), and Motorola (MOT) among corporate buyers, but that RIMM should hold its own.

Why? The RIMM Blackberry is really not a phone. It is an e-mail device. That puts it in a special category, off to the side of the competition for phones that take pictures, surf the web, and play music.

Observers could say that RIMM’s success is an example of being more lucky than smart. But, that would miss the beauty of what the company has done. It builds one product, available with a few minor changes from model to model, and it focuses on one, very large market. Generation X buyers may want a key-less screen. Corporate users just want a durable device that works. They can listen to music on the CD players in their Mercedes.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.