I would add that hopefully RIM realizes that they got where they are by maintaining a reputation for quality and reliability, and so that investing in infrastructure really does serve the bottom line.

I don’t know of many companies that have gone down or gone under by investing in quality of product. I know of several companies to suffer due to perceptions of poor quality.

Well said. That’s a good point. I usually try and think of the business aspect of decisions too. After all… money talks. I’m happy with the ultimate conclusion you came to.

Speaking from experience of common sense, this is the best time to put the money into infrastructure. When there is money coming in at a record pace the shareholder doesn’t scrutinize expenditures with a fine tooth comb. Try doing this when they a less than stellar quarter.

Speaking from experience working on Wall Street, their first and main concern is the shareholder. Any expendatures spent need to be justified. While there may be a case to expand the IT infrastructure now that they’ve shown considerable growth in the past year where they are adding millions per quarter now (in spite of the release of the iPhone), I think going forward they’ll be able to justify the expense. It will, however, be a hard task for them to continue this pace, and any dip in revenue and profit will create a concern among the shareholders and street analysts. Any concern would automatically create a pullback into investments in the infrastructure.

But right now it’s looking bright, and I’m going to guess they will spend going forward to match the increase in their customer base.

Also, you’d think they could hire enough engineers to develop and release the CDMA versions of devices approximately simultaneously with the GSM versions.