RIM Now Sees Clearly, Giving Up on Smartphones

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- A wise man once told me "sometimes one has to first lose an eye to see things clearly."

It didn't require a lab experiment for me to appreciate the value in that statement and it has long helped to avert possible aches and pains over the years. In the stock market, embracing the idea of "losing an eye" gets a bit more complicated particularly for corporations given Wall Street's demands for profits and growth. For that matter, investor success is often heavily predicated on "visibility" or anticipation.

RIM's Lack of Visibility

This motto is most appropriate for beleaguered tech giant Research in Motion (RIMM). If there is such a thing as "losing an eye" on the stock market, RIM would rank at the top of the leader board, along with names such as Nokia (NOK), Yahoo (YHOO), AOL (AOL) and Novell. For good measure, let's toss in MySpace, seeing as FaceBook (FB) is due to release its highly anticipated IPO.

All of these names were once market leaders who allowed lesser-knowns to not only encroach on their terrain, but like a Roman army, eventually conquer the territory, leaving behind what only resembles disaster areas. For RIM, the question is, which of the conquered will it follow? Will it become a Novell or will it become an Apple (AAPL)? Fifteen years ago, Apple would have qualified as having lost an eye due to the dominance of Microsoft (MSFT).

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While RIM's story is far from over, 75% of the book has already been read. The most recent chapter suggests, just maybe, its injury is helping the company to see things a bit more clearly. But is Wall Street buying it? What is becoming clear to me is that RIM's new management at least is now admitting the errors of its past, absent the regular lifting of its scepter of arrogance.

On the heels of the release of its fiscal Q4 earnings results, it was a pleasant surprise to see that the company no longer pretending its house is in order and the market has gotten it all wrong.

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