All about business

Research In Motion (RIM.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) (RIMM.O: Quote, Profile, Research) has leapt into the retail consumer market with products such as its pink BlackBerry Pearl, a candybar-shaped e-mail phone stuffed with multimedia goodies, exposing itself to shoppers’ fickle tastes and competition from Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) iPhone.

Its devices now include more “lifestyle” features like television, music players, cameras and Facebook social-networking software for broad appeal.

“I think the whole social networking phenomenon is quite substantial,” RIM’s co-Chief Executive, Jim Balsillie, told Reuters in an interview.

His comment highlights a big shift for the Canadian company, which first made its name supplying blocky handsets that executives, lawyers and politicians used to send secure e-mails to their offices and clients.

The departure from that mainstay has produced strong early results, as RIM added BlackBerry subscribers at a rapid clip and posted profits that consistently beat analysts’ expectations.

More than a third of RIM’s subscribers are now classified as noncorporate or non-government payday loan. The company had a total of 12 million users at the end of the quarter ended December 1.

The Pearl, the main product in the consumer push, looks more like a regular cellphone than the traditional BlackBerry. Launched in 2006 at around $200, some carriers now give it away as part of a long-term service contract, while declining plan prices are making the gadget more affordable.

The retail effort reached a critical milestone on November’s Black Friday, the day after U.S. Thanksgiving that marks the start of the holiday shopping season. It was, for the first time, RIM’s strongest single day for net subscriber additions. 

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AT&T (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research) posted stronger-than-expected mobile growth on Thursday and affirmed its 2008 outlook, but its shares fell as much as 3.4 percent amid persistent worries about the U.S. economy.

The largest U.S. phone company warned earlier this month that it saw some softness in its consumer business, but it said on Thursday that it added 2.7 million net new wireless subscribers in the fourth quarter, ahead of expectations.

Five analysts contacted by Reuters had on average estimated AT&T’s new subscribers at 1.92 million for the fourth quarter.

“It was a solid quarter certainly,” said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Chris King said. “In this type of market, any reiteration of guidance has to be viewed positively.”

AT&T forecast 2008 revenue growth in the mid-single-digit percentage range, double-digit adjusted earnings-per-share growth and mobile service revenue growth in the mid teens.

If the economy gets worse, King said there was a risk AT&T would come in at the low end of its outlook.

“It does not appear to us as if the mid-to-high end of company guidance for 2008 assumes much weakness, if any, in enterprise or wireless that could be seen if the economy continues to weaken,” King said.

AT&T shares closed down about 2 percent at $35.75 on the New York Stock Exchange, erasing Wednesday’s gain of about the same amount paydayloans.com. The stock has fallen almost 13 percent since the end of 2007 due to economic concerns. 

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The ball certainly did drop on New Year’s Eve for some investors. But instead of bringing them holiday cheer, it landed with a big thud.

Many commentators blamed oil futures reaching $100 a barrel for putting investors on edge. But a convincing case could be made that the real hangover was triggered by announcements from H&R Block Inc., Zions Bancorporation and PHH Corp. after the stock market closed on the final trading day of 2007.

Their news was all related to the current credit crisis gripping the financial world, suggesting the sting from that mess is far from over.

H&R Block said it would pay ousted CEO Mark Ernst $2.55 million in severance and allow options on three-quarters of a million shares to vest, even though he led the tax preparer during its failed expansion into subprime lending. Minutes later, Zions said it would take an additional $55 million charge to earnings because of a significant drop in the value of some of its mortgage-backed securities.

And it wasn’t until just after midnight that PHH disclosed its pending $1.8 billion buyout had collapsed because one of its proposed acquirers, Blackstone Group, failed to raise the cash needed to close the deal.

By forcing investors to wait until the market reopened on Jan. 2 to react, all three companies likely won a host of new enemies on Wall Street, where last-minute surprises aren’t appreciated. That’s particularly true right now given how easily the housing and credit market malaise has gotten everyone spooked.

H&R Block’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission came at 4:31 p.m cash advance. on Dec. 31. Company spokesman Nick Iammartino said the company typically releases news before or after the market closes, and with this announcement, “we did it when we could.”

But that doesn’t make much sense given that the company says in its securities filing that its separation agreement with Ernst had been entered three days before on Dec. 28.

About 40 minutes after the H&R Block filing, Zions reported that it would take a pretax write-down of $33 million related to an off- balance sheet investment vehicle known as a commercial paper conduit.

That conduit, called Lockhart Funding, borrowed money short term in asset-backed commercial paper markets and invested the cash in longer-term assets like mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs.

Then at 12:18 a.m. on Jan. 1, PPH said General Electric Capital Corp. and Blackstone had pulled out of their buyout of the Mount Laurel-based vehicle lessor and mortgage lender. That was a result of Blackstone’s inability to secure debt financing for the deal.

There isn’t anything illegal about these after-hours disclosures. Clark Hinckley, head of investors relations for Zions, said the company’s filing followed SEC rules to get the information out as soon as it became available.

But this wasn’t just any night of the year. It’s hard to call that forthcoming when the news came out when no one was listening.
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