RIM: Unite, enterprise, prosumer market all promising

Research in Motion reported stellar second quarter earnings and highlighted a few areas: Software called Unite that can coordinate schedules for up to five people; enterprise gains amid Wi-Fi and wireless network roaming and prosumer hits such as the Pearl update.

RIM reported an in line second quarter, but provided a strong outlook for its fiscal third quarter. Wall Street analysts across the board cheered the results. For instance, Pacific Crest Securities and RBC gave RIM a price target of $120, up from its $110 target. Shares were last trading at $108 in early trading.

Among the notable topics highlighted by RIM on its conference call (transcript courtesy of SeekingAlpha):

Unite software: It's not entirely clear what RIM's Unite software will ultimately be, but it sounds promising on the surface. On Oct. 3, RIM announced that it would be testing Unite software with Telefonica in Spain. On last night's conference call, RIM Co-CEO Jim Balsillie offered a few more details on Unite, which is currently being developed for release later this fall. The target market is families and small home offices.

According to Balsillie said Unite will be a free PC download that will allow groups of up to five users with mobile access to share calendars, pictures, music and documents via BlackBerry devices. The users in this Unite group will be able to modify appointments and availability as well as send reminders.

Here's Balsillie's description:

Some of the features of BlackBerry Unite include the ability to share key information, including e-mail, contacts, pictures, documents and bookmarks directly from the BlackBerry smartphone with other group members; remotely download content, including pictures, music, documents and other content on their desktop computers directly from their BlackBerry smartphone; coordinate schedules using shared wireless calendar, with the ability to check each other’s availability setup or modify appointments and send reminders; remotely secure devices, including the ability to use commands that wirelessly erase lost or stolen devices and to enforce password protection; simple wireless controls to help define acceptable smartphone usage for each individual, such as the ability to place long distance calls or access certain online content, and the ability to automatically back up files on the BlackBerry smart phone to the desktop computer, so that if the device is lost or stolen, all the data can be simply restored in minutes on a replacement unit.

Enterprise strength. For all the talk about the Pearl and consumer efforts, RIM isn't taking its eye off its core enterprise business, which accounts for about 70 percent of sales. RIM said its enterprise server 4.1.3 and BlackBerry wireless handheld server 4.1.0 has been certified in 25 countries under common criteria. RIM also rolled out its an update to its BlackBerry smart card reader.

Another promising enterprise technology is RIM's Ascendent suite. This suite aims to combine fixed-line and mobile voice systems. Balsillie said companies are looking to converge their handset technologies and networks.

Consumer gains. RIM noted that this was the first quarter where consumer subscriptions outpaced enterprise gains. "The enterprise business is growing very fast. The non-enterprise business is growing very, very fast," said Balsillie, who added that over time prosumer customers will represent more of RIM's base.