Wow, it's pretty tough to knock these dudes off their high horses, isn't it? RIM's generally held a flippant attitude toward Apple's and Microsoft's mobile efforts -- an attitude that's at least partially justified thanks to the company's immense success in corporate channels and with many, many carriers, granted, but you'd think they'd at least pretend to respect their adversaries. In recent chats with media, one of RIM's two CEOs, Mike Lazaridis, said that the iPhone has "severe limitations" resulting from its virtual keyboard, reminding reporters that real phones have real keyboards and pointing to Palm's licensing of RIM's keyboard design for its Treo series. He went on to thank the iPhone for drawing consumers' collective attention to smartphones -- attention that he's apparently figuring RIM can steal once customers are in carriers' shops with cash in hand. Meanwhile, RIM's other CEO Jim Balsillie went on record saying that he doesn't believe Windows Mobile is a "big competitor" to their business, a bold statement considering that Microsoft's mobile platform continues to become more enterprise-focused with efforts like Mobile Device Manager. Don't get too comfortable, fellas!

[Via Smartphone Thoughts]

RIM's doing just fine thanks to a host of new models, but the same can't be said for its embattled CEO. First he loses his bid to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins, then he loses his chairmanship -- but things might just be turning around for Jim Balsillie. Word on the street is that Nashiville Predators owner Craig Leipold has turned the keys to the club over to Balsillie with an official announcement scheduled for tomorrow. Though there's a guarantee in place that the Predators will stick around for the next season, RIM's hometown has been pining after an NHL franchise for some time. Could this be the Predators' swan song in Nashville? Will the state of Tennessee write off BlackBerrys as evil devices for ever and ever? Only time'll tell.

[Thanks, Boy Genius]

What's a surefire sign that your company has survived scandal, moving on to become one of the predominant players in wireless communications, enterprise messaging, and hot phones with trackballs? Your CEO buys a sports franchise, that's what. In what can only be described as a proudly Canadian thing to do, Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM CEO Jim Balsillie recently scooped up the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins for a cool $175 million from previous owner Mario Lemieux and pals. Though Balsillie and the NHL sound committed to keeping the team in Pittsburgh, it seems fitting that Hamilton, Ontario -- not too far from RIM's Waterloo -- is in search of an NHL franchise itself. We'll try not to get too wrapped up in the conspiracy theories, though; Balsillie's folks back at the RIM camp make enough on-topic news without us branching into the wide world of sports.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Well, we can't say for sure whether Palm and RIM are going to merge tomorrow (though we obviously have a pretty strong inkling that they won't), but if nothing else RIM's co-CEO James Balsillie did let some interesting information slip today at the C3 expo. Namely, he spoke about how apparently BlackBerry devices should soon have a slew of features never really known in RIM handsets, such as MP3 playback from external memory expansion, "image capture," (which we're taking to mean a freaking integrated digital camera), and even integrated GPS. We're not saying BlackBerrys wouldn't be capable or nothin', but we all know what a serious overhaul these devices would have to undergo in order to make some of these features really shine (especially GPS), let alone to really prep them for mass market appeal. But either way here's to hoping some of this stuff will show up in the Stealth (or sooner).

[Via BBHub]