This year has seen major innovations in the technology field, with products like the iPad and 3-D television revolutionizing their respective industries. Today, Research In Motion
All in all, the Torch will be very similar to the iPhone 4, as RIM attempts to compete in a market they are steadily losing their grip on. The Torch will feature GPS, Wi-Fi, 3G, 8GB memory, and a 5-megapixel camera, all similar to the iPhone's features. The iPhone features more memory, 16GB, for the same price of $200 and a battery that slightly outperforms that of the Torch. But, the Torch will include features like a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, yielding to customers who are frustrated with touch screen typing, the popular BlackBerry messaging system (BBM), multi-tab Internet capabilities, and a unique universal search bar that scans through everything in the phone's database. Thus far, the buzz has been that the Torch's hardware is excellent, but its software does not stack up to the iPhone or Android's software capabilities, which could hurt sales of the crucial product for the company this holiday season [also see the Definitive Guide To Semiconductor ETFs].
The Canadian company has been steadily losing its once-dominant market share to the iPhone and Android market. While Nokia
In a further effort to stay competitive, RIM has been harboring plans for a tablet computer tentatively called the "Blackpad." The product is not expected until November and may be more of a companion to the Blackberry than anything else. With the tablet market being relatively new, RIM will attempt to slice into Apple's monopoly, giving consumers another choice in this up-and-coming market. Below, we profile two ETFs for investors seeking to make a play on the smartphone market, and Research In Motion in particular [see all the ETFs In The Technology Equities ETFdb Category].
iShares Goldman Sachs Network Index Fund
This ETF tracks the S&P North American Technology-Multimedia Networking Index, which measures the performance of U.S.-traded multimedia networking stocks. Research In Motion comes in as the second highest holding, with a 7.7% allocation. Other names in the top ten holdings include Cisco Systems
HOLDRS Merrill Lynch Wireless (WMH)
This HOLDR fund from Merrill Lynch features a whos who of cell phone service providers as well as smartphone producers. RIM comes in as the third highest holding, making up 10.6% of the fund, with Verizon's
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- This Week in ETFs: June 25th Edition
Disclosure: No positions at time of writing.
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