Blackberry investors keep cool over iPhone

By Jonathan Spicer

TORONTO (Reuters) - Unlike last year, Research In Motion (RIM.TO: Quote, Profile, Research)(RIMM.O: Quote, Profile, Research) investors kept their cool this week as smartphone rival Apple (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) held court to deliver the much-hyped new version of its iPhone.

Their measured response to Apple's introduction reflects the perception that iPhone's threat is too easy to exaggerate.

Even though the 3G iPhone is better-equipped than the original version to appeal to corporate users, Apple is unlikely to present an inexorable challenge for the customer base RIM's BlackBerry has held so firmly since its introduction, analysts say.

On price, RIM should be able to compete with iPhone when it launches its own third-generation 3G device, the BlackBerry Bold, later this year. At $199, the new entry-level iPhone has established what one analyst called "the new price point" for smartphones that every serious competitor will match.

The iPhone will probably broaden Apple's user base. But even so, the Bold should surpass two of the iPhone's most coveted features: faster wireless Internet and new business software.

With RIM shares rolling along virtually unaffected the last few days, and Apple bouncing back from a drop on Monday, the real question now is how much market share the smartphone leaders can take from their larger cellphone rivals.

"The trend is not so much RIM against Apple -- I think there's enough room for both of them to prosper," said Ian Nakamoto, director of research at MacDougall, MacDougall & MacTier.

"It's more the smartphone market increasing at a greater rate than the traditional cell phone manufacturers."