RIM Short Interest Doubles in Six Months (RIMM)

The number of bets that stock in BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion RIMM will decline has doubled since April 15. As the stock has been punished, more investors appear to be questioning whether the company can continue to compete with Apple's AAPL iPhone and Google's GOOG Android software. According to a Bloomberg report, "Short interest in RIM climbed to 31.1 million shares as of Aug. 31, more than double the level on Apr. 15 and the most since June 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Investors taking short positions borrow and sell a stock, aiming to profit by repaying the borrowed shares at a lower price." "Everybody is so negative, the short positions continue to grow," Buzzy Geduld, chief executive officer of New York hedge fund Cougar Trading, told Bloomberg. Research in Motion has recently been bogged down by security issues with several countries. India and the United Arab Emirates, among others, have cited national security concerns over BlackBerry encryption. Further, Bloomberg notes that "Growth in the U.S. is slowing and the company is losing market share globally. RIM's portion of the worldwide smartphone market slid to 18.2 percent in the second quarter from 19 percent a year earlier as customers opted for devices with larger screens and more applications, according to researcher IDC. Apple's share rose to 14.2 percent from 13 percent, while Android surged to 17.2 percent from 1.8 percent." "It feels like RIM is not in touch with what demanding, tech-savvy customers want," Nirav Parikh, senior vice president at Los Angeles-based TCW Inc., told Bloomberg in an interview. Shares of Research in Motion are up 1.85% this afternoon, to $46.36.