Merrill Lynch analyst Vivek Ayra has seen the light about the Blackberry Pearl. Based on strong-than-expected demand for the Pearl, Ayra has bumped up his 12-month target price on RIM to US$165 from US$135. His bullishness is based the imminent launch of a Cingular Pearl; a huge opportunity in Western Europe where smartphone sales are expected to grow 38% a year until 2010; low-cost monthly data plans such as T-Mobile's $19.99 all-you-can-eat package (Boy, it would sure be great to see those kind of deals in Canada but it's unlikely given how our wireless carriers have embraced "disciplined growth"); and the launch of new Pearl "siblings" such as the Indigo and Crimson, which will feature QWERTY keyboards (which is what will make me jump into a Pearl). 
    Speaking of smartphone growth, In-Stat has a new reported that shows unit sales nearly tripled from 2004 to 2005, and jumped by 50% during the first half of 2006. That said, In-Stat analyst Bill Hughes said there is reason for caution. "Many smartphone users continue to carry the very devices that smartphones are meant to replace. Also, users have been slow to add new applications to their devices. Most users have only downloaded a few applications." Tags: RIM, Blackberry, Pearl, Merrill Lynch, In-Stat

What does Motorola's purchase of Good Technology mean? Does it suggest the consolidation of the mobile e-mail market is picking up steam? Will HP make a play for Seven Networks now that Good and Intellisync (Nokia) have been snapped up? Does this finally mean Research in Motion will see some real competition after owning the mobile e-market for the past five or six years? And what about the much-vaunted Motorola "Q" that was supposed to sell millions of units this year but appears to have stalled? It would be interesting to see how much Motorola coughed up for Good, which has raised more than $200-million in private equity from investors such as Kleiner Perkins. Canaccord Capital analyst Peter Misek said Good had no choice but to sell because the 470-employee company was "running out of money". For more, check out Blogging Stocks. Tags: Motorola, RIM, mobile e-mail, Kleiner Perkins

After being given seven whole days to evaluate the Blackberry Pearl, I've decided...not to get one. Why? It likely has much to do with the fact I'm a long-time user of Blackberrys with a QWERTY keypad. As much as the Pearl's SureType keypad is supposed to be inuitive, I found it frustrating. Rather than jump on the Pearl bandwagon, I'm going to wait for the 8800 to come out later this year. While it's not as sexy as the Pearl, it's what I know and like. As for the Pearl, it's got a lot going for it. The small size, great screen and functionality is impressive, and I easily understand why carriers have been having trouble keeping it on the shelves. It's just not for me.

After a one-week hiatus, Talking Tech is back. Not surprisingly, I "hi-jacked" the show to talk about my decision to jump from the world of journalism to the blogosphere by becoming vice-president of operations with b5media, which operates a global new media network with more than 150 blogs that attract two million unique visitors a month. In response to a few inquiries, I'll continue to write my blogs and, hopefully, keep my hand in journalism a little bit. As for the rest of Talking Tech, Kevin and I spent quite a bit of time talking about Research in Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie's purchase of the Pittsburgh Penguins for $175-million. It also gave us an excuse to talk about the Blackberry Pearl, which became available in Canada earlier this week. Finally, we touched up on the Google-YouTube rumours, which picked up steam after a Wall St. Journal story and a TechCrunch post. Notes: The show notes for Talking Tech can be found here, the podcast is here. Thanks again to Fleishman-Hillard's David Jones and Ed Lee for their production magic - and their decision to keep working with Kevin and I even though we're no longer daily technololgy newspaper reporters...:)

Is tomorrow the day Research in Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie finally spends some of his hard-earned Blackberry dollars to purchase the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins? When asked yesterday while attending the Toronto Maple Leafs' home opener if the rampant speculation was true, all Balsillie would say is "tomorrow", which is a telling departure from his previous "no comment" comments.
Update: According to reports out of Pittsburgh, Balsillie bought the Penguins for $175 million. Now, wouldn't it be cool if he moved the team to Hamilton or London, and Sidney Crosby got to play his home games in Canada? To put the Penguins' purchase in context, Balsillie's stake in RIM is worth about $1.4-billion. What will make Balsillie different from other NHL owners is he's a huge hockey fans who still plays hockey every week. Maybe he'll change the Penguins' name to the Hamilton Blackberries or the London Pearls.
Update II: I dropped Balsillie a congradulatory e-mail after the news of the deal became official. Much to my surprise, he responded within minutes. Among other things, Balsillie's got a lot of class.