I've just received my monthly copy of BlackBerry Connection.

This issue's lead article is about Smart Card security, as practiced by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Inside, there are pieces about ensuring your BlackBerry changes its time settings to Daylight Savings Time, BlackBerry solutions for various industries, and even how to play Tetris on your BlackBerry.

In the non-ignoble name of "greater ergonomic comfort," BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion has filed a U.S. patent application for a rotatable keyboard.

Unlike some more complicated RIM patents that require an engineering degree to understand, this one's fairly simple.

The Abstract for 20070008292, Mobile Device For Rotatable Keyboard, explains what's being proposed:

"A mobile device is provided having a rotatable keyboard. The keyboard is attached to the mobile device and is rotatable in a single plane with respect to the device's housing between a first and second position," the Abstract says. :A plurality of keys are provided having first indicia in a first orientation relating to key functions in the first position and second indicia in a second orientation relating to key functions in the second position.

"The indicia are properly oriented with respect to the user in the first and second positions to display a telephone keypad and an alternate keyboard," RIM says. "The arrangement provides greater ergonomic comfort to a user when entering text. The mobile device can assign functions to each key based on a determined keyboard position and can include a weighted end piece to protect the rotatable keyboard from potential damage due to impact."

Sounds good to me. Looks good to me as well.

But how 'bout you? Would you want a rotatable keyboard?

A few hours from now a Southwest Airlines jet bearing yours truly will take off from Portland to Las Vegas and the Consumer Electronics Show.

RIM has a booth. I'll stop by, maybe do a chat-up or two, look around let you know what I see and then you will read about this here.

All the more excuse to mothball my Nextel BlackBerry 7520 and get a Pearl. Pix, you know.

But I will get beyond the pix. I will give you the flavor of what's goin' down.

Up until today's Nasdaq session, four full trading days had elapsed since Research In Motion stock was traded in the U.S. The Saturday-Sunday couplet, New Year's Day and an unanticipated U.S. Federal Holiday called to commemorate the passing of former President Gerald Ford.

But now we are back to normal (that is, if there is such a thing).

So let's check the numbers:

Nasdaq (RIMM)- $128.55 a share, a rise of 77 cents (+0.60%) from last Friday's $127.78 a share close. Reflecting pent-up trading urges after the four-day trading lapse, today's volume of 11.550 million shares was much greater than RIM's three-month 8.589 million share daily average traffic.

Toronto Stock Exchange (RIM)- Today, closing prices finished at $149.92 (CDN) a share, a rise of 92 cents (+0.62%)from Tuesday's $149.92 (CDN) a share final level.

A little more than an hour from now, we'll learn what CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) viewers regard as the Greatest Canadian Invention.

Suffice to say that the BlackBerry is on the list.

Mike Lazaridis will join some 20 other Canadians in presenting his own choice.

I realize that many if not most of you readers don't have ready access to this tv show. Still, you do have access to the CBC Web site. Check the link below for updates.

While the Nasdaq was closed today in observance of former U.S. President Gerald Ford's burial ceremonies, trading markets were open in Canada.

And just in case you were wondering:

Toronto Stock Exchange (RIM)- Today, closing prices finished at $149.92 (CDN) a share, a rise of 92 cents (+0.62%)from Friday's $149.00 (CDN) a share final level.

Here's how trading in BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion's stock went on this last day of the trading year:Nasdaq

(RIMM)- $127.78 a share, a drop of $1.82 (-1.40%) from Thursday's $129.60 a share close. Influenced by the absence of some investors who have taken the whole week off, today's volume of 3.610 million shares was well less than half RIM's three-month 8.757 million share daily average traffic.

The rise in Canada was somewhat less, when expressed proportionately.

Toronto Stock Exchange (RIM)- Today, closing prices finished at $149.00 (CDN) a share, a decline of $1.65 (-1.10%)from Thursday's $150.65 (CDN) a share final level.

At the end of today's year-end Nasdaq trading, BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion's stock price stood at $127.78 a share.

Compare that to the end of trading on January 3, 2006- the first trading day of this year. RIM closed at $66.61- just a bit more than half of today's closing price.

To put it another way: RIM stock nearly doubled this year.

Now if you promise to be good and help little old ladies across the street, here's RIM's trading volume and closing price for every day this year.

Date Volume Close

01/03/06 4,192,587 66.61
01/04/06 6,839,537 68.8
01/05/06 4,064,537 69.19
01/06/06 7,128,195 72.37
01/09/06 4,144,390 73.32
01/10/06 4,401,347 71.67
01/11/06 2,746,224 71.18
01/12/06 3,661,809 69.9
01/13/06 2,562,910 69.31
01/17/06 4,163,958 67.73
01/18/06 2,885,615 67.96
01/19/06 2,685,748 69.41
01/20/06 4,066,098 66.62
01/23/06 9,463,590 64.25
01/24/06 4,030,389 65.09
01/25/06 2,716,017 64.96
01/26/06 2,341,599 65.94
01/27/06 2,402,153 65.76
01/30/06 4,722,346 66.82
01/31/06 2,058,702 67.53
02/01/06 18,385,572 73.61
02/02/06 8,347,865 72
02/03/06 3,298,349 70.69
02/06/06 2,074,730 70.67
02/07/06 3,326,185 69.06
02/08/06 2,789,084 68.65
02/09/06 9,750,543 69.62
02/10/06 3,055,886 70.07
02/13/06 2,697,795 68.35
02/14/06 2,014,323 68.68
02/15/06 1,596,860 69.02
02/16/06 3,425,737 70.6
02/17/06 4,566,716 72.23
02/21/06 8,125,426 74.15
02/22/06 6,865,137 73.14
02/23/06 5,218,760 69.53
02/24/06 26,757,496 74.05
02/27/06 5,849,100 71.91
02/28/06 3,188,875 70.53
03/01/06 3,343,936 71.05
03/02/06 3,140,128 71.39
03/03/06 8,147,254 71.92
03/06/06 31,152,732 82.76
03/07/06 8,538,332 81.78
03/08/06 5,953,177 79.41
03/09/06 3,978,394 79.95
03/10/06 3,769,870 80.6
03/13/06 4,110,886 80.96
03/14/06 4,718,336 82.99
03/15/06 11,389,467 88.71
03/16/06 14,569,394 85.75
03/17/06 7,954,653 86.75
03/20/06 3,798,670 86.17
03/21/06 5,380,600 86.31
03/22/06 8,424,841 83.67
03/23/06 3,714,779 84.79
03/24/06 2,647,566 83.92
03/27/06 2,239,926 83.63
03/28/06 3,092,715 82.53
03/29/06 3,595,313 84.4
03/30/06 3,735,644 85
03/31/06 3,233,444 84.88
04/03/06 3,641,264 85.45
04/04/06 5,759,910 86.28
04/05/06 3,667,449 85.56
04/06/06 13,038,662 84.38
04/07/06 19,820,232 79.78
04/10/06 6,125,062 78.11
04/11/06 4,634,557 76.64
04/12/06 4,316,311 75.77
04/13/06 2,551,182 76.37
04/17/06 3,030,895 74.99
04/18/06 3,300,674 77.12
04/19/06 2,055,357 77.66
04/20/06 2,478,432 76.49
04/21/06 2,818,792 75.91
04/24/06 2,098,110 76.08
04/25/06 3,921,822 78.47
04/26/06 3,106,778 77.19
04/27/06 2,745,287 78.25
04/28/06 3,175,884 76.63
05/01/06 10,829,890 73.03
05/02/06 5,051,939 74.44
05/03/06 3,993,930 74.93
05/04/06 2,304,984 74.81
05/05/06 1,655,027 75.5
05/08/06 2,156,310 75.15
05/09/06 8,292,240 76.43
05/10/06 5,998,442 73.68
05/11/06 5,112,380 73.07
05/12/06 4,016,817 74.26
05/15/06 4,333,437 70.66
05/16/06 4,265,006 71.12
05/17/06 4,698,298 70.13
05/18/06 2,670,847 69.23
05/19/06 6,895,951 67.49
05/22/06 5,040,591 65.66
05/23/06 3,786,074 65.67
05/24/06 4,878,819 64.4
05/25/06 3,865,520 64.59
05/26/06 2,048,532 64.59
05/30/06 4,155,881 64.8
05/31/06 5,013,891 64.89
06/01/06 3,841,291 65.91
06/02/06 4,975,830 67.83
06/05/06 2,875,927 65.19
06/06/06 3,050,373 64.68
06/07/06 2,036,077 64.96
06/08/06 4,141,014 65.24
06/09/06 2,194,214 65.08
06/12/06 2,887,972 63.119
06/13/06 4,712,848 62.37
06/14/06 2,938,844 62.67
06/15/06 3,334,867 64.43
06/16/06 2,771,500 63.7
06/19/06 2,945,311 62.22
06/20/06 2,322,758 62.04
06/21/06 3,775,973 62.86
06/22/06 4,951,591 64.4
06/23/06 4,004,373 65.8
06/26/06 2,705,882 66.65
06/27/06 3,453,774 65.37
06/28/06 3,014,812 65.68
06/29/06 6,883,880 66
06/30/06 12,049,966 69.73
07/03/06 2,113,484 71.45
07/05/06 3,394,205 69.96
07/06/06 2,851,447 69.22
07/07/06 3,107,626 69.98
07/10/06 3,579,599 68.11
07/11/06 4,081,411 67.34
07/12/06 2,108,743 66.45
07/13/06 3,892,050 64.85
07/14/06 3,678,555 63.3
07/17/06 2,672,183 62.7
07/18/06 4,812,710 64.9
07/19/06 3,157,450 64.41
07/20/06 2,253,491 64.22
07/21/06 3,112,166 62.38
07/24/06 3,444,639 65.05
07/25/06 2,201,314 65.68
07/26/06 2,404,437 65.37
07/27/06 2,341,964 64.85
07/28/06 2,247,157 65.79
07/31/06 1,903,953 65.63
08/01/06 2,880,317 63.56
08/02/06 1,885,662 64.36
08/03/06 2,256,617 64.86
08/04/06 4,377,199 66.13
08/07/06 2,019,497 66.99
08/08/06 2,807,093 67.74
08/09/06 3,265,164 68.58
08/10/06 11,309,853 74.12
08/11/06 4,550,426 73.86
08/14/06 3,134,591 73.05
08/15/06 3,151,087 74.6
08/16/06 5,586,924 77.72
08/17/06 9,593,452 79.81
08/18/06 2,793,390 80
08/21/06 4,027,885 78.67
08/22/06 4,471,361 79.81
08/23/06 2,732,574 79.02
08/24/06 4,051,026 80.23
08/25/06 6,266,036 82.42
08/28/06 4,179,278 82.79
08/29/06 3,390,950 82.74
08/30/06 5,192,858 81.99
08/31/06 2,564,649 82.5
09/01/06 2,534,750 81.93
09/05/06 3,161,688 82.07
09/06/06 3,465,916 79.79
09/07/06 7,102,304 78.68
09/08/06 3,106,668 80
09/11/06 4,150,511 80.42
09/12/06 8,214,696 83
09/13/06 4,538,651 83.44
09/14/06 3,904,436 84.87
09/15/06 8,833,470 85.27
09/18/06 6,246,917 84.24
09/19/06 7,929,038 84.99
09/20/06 8,580,344 88.89
09/21/06 6,247,843 87.3
09/22/06 3,453,864 86.85
09/25/06 5,048,327 87.8
09/26/06 4,759,771 87.71
09/27/06 6,108,507 86.2
09/28/06 15,698,707 86.06
09/29/06 34,389,380 102.65
10/02/06 10,401,140 100.01
10/03/06 9,475,005 102.07
10/04/06 13,928,747 108.8
10/05/06 10,451,025 110.02
10/06/06 10,775,354 108.79
10/09/06 7,881,800 113.6
10/10/06 9,402,697 112.75
10/11/06 8,906,897 111.65
10/12/06 7,135,775 111.03
10/13/06 9,565,516 113.84
10/16/06 6,607,490 110.62
10/17/06 8,608,957 112.25
10/18/06 6,409,015 109.79
10/19/06 3,794,630 110.36
10/20/06 3,552,925 110
10/23/06 7,612,184 113.15
10/24/06 9,546,674 116.81
10/25/06 8,575,594 116.39
10/26/06 5,421,809 118.28
10/27/06 5,323,516 116.44
10/30/06 6,981,448 118.41
10/31/06 5,835,879 117.48
11/01/06 5,523,320 116.5
11/02/06 5,142,726 116.58
11/03/06 4,488,714 116.29
11/06/06 6,705,700 120.36
11/07/06 8,464,230 122.77
11/08/06 7,454,153 124.87
11/09/06 12,381,581 124.75
11/10/06 15,056,008 124.11
11/13/06 7,749,762 128.7
11/14/06 6,690,501 129.14
11/15/06 5,221,244 128.42
11/16/06 11,062,304 134.19
11/17/06 4,675,479 133.61
11/20/06 7,395,854 137.41
11/21/06 5,598,514 138.5
11/22/06 4,827,986 139.61
11/24/06 3,826,111 141.56
11/27/06 7,650,578 135.3
11/28/06 10,568,000 134.29
11/29/06 8,145,823 134.15
11/30/06 10,744,672 138.83
12/01/06 9,171,266 135.68
12/04/06 6,127,560 136.36
12/05/06 5,193,609 135.95
12/06/06 4,925,892 135.44
12/07/06 9,209,132 128.75
12/08/06 12,297,634 127.69
12/11/06 7,189,318 127.19
12/12/06 7,070,385 124.64
12/13/06 8,308,970 127.48
12/14/06 14,007,102 134.01
12/15/06 12,219,357 135
12/18/06 9,373,497 135.51
12/19/06 8,821,534 132.24
12/20/06 7,613,567 134.75
12/21/06 12,846,593 133.7
12/22/06 24,355,628 130
12/26/06 6,799,006 127.62
12/27/06 5,971,323 129.41
12/28/06 5,098,439 129.63

12/29/06 3,610,249 127.78

That's because the U.S. financial markets will be closed Tuesday due to the funeral of President Gerald Ford.

The Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange always close for Presidential funerals in the U.S.

In a note to clients yesterday, American Technology Research analyst Rob Sanderson predicted that the stock price of BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion will hit $175 by mid-2007.

"RIMstands at the convergence point of the world's two largest markets: wireless and Internet," Sanderson wriote.. "RIM is addressing the opportunity unlike any competitor and is seeing accelerating adoption while competing products have been underwhelming."

Bolstered by some upbeat mid-afternoon trading, BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion's stock barely closed the day in positive territory.

The numbers? Yes, the numbers:

Nasdaq (RIMM)- $129.60 a share, a rise of 19 cents (+0.15%) from Wednesday's $129.41 a share close. Influenced by the absence of some investors who have taken the whole week off, today's volume of 5.094 million shares was a little less than three-fifths RIM's three-month 8.773 million share daily average traffic.

The rise in Canada was nearly three times as much,, when expressed proportionately.

Toronto Stock Exchange (RIM)- Today, closing prices finished at $150.65 (CDN) a share, a rise of 63 cents (+0.42%)from Wednesday's $150.02 (CDN) a share final level.

For many investors in the stock of BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion, there's no such thing as a post-Christmas glow.

Obviously spooked by a widespread feeling among analysts that RIM stock is still priced too high, levels went down again today.

Let's call the numbers:

Nasdaq (RIMM)- $127.62 a share, a dip of $2.38 (-1.83%) from Friday's $130.00 a share close. Influenced by the absence of some investors who have taken the whole week off, today's volume of 6.731 million shares was less than 8- percent RIM's three-month 8.345million share daily average traffic.

Canadian markets were closed today.

Toronto Stock Exchange (RIM)- On Friday closing prices finished at $150.50 (CDN) a share, a decline of $3.91 (-2.53%) from last Thursday's $154.41 (CDN) a share final level.

Trading results on the first day after BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion files quarterly (or annual) reports is an excellent barometer of how shareholders are feeling about the company going forward.

The only interpretation I could place on today's frantic trading volume and lower prices is that RIM investors are becoming measurably freaked about all these analyst views that RIM stock is currently trading too high relative to income.

And by the way, the volume- which approached 25 million shares- was even more impressive considering that so many investors have already started their Christmas vacation and aren't thinking about trading right now.

With that in mind, here's how the stock traded today:

• There are now more than seven million BlackBerry users. That's an increase of 14 percent in the last three months.
• Profits are up 47 percent and sales are up 49 percent from the previous 12-month marker.
• In the third quarter, which ended December 2, some 875,000 new BlackBerry accounts were opened. That's nearly 10 percent more than BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion' senior execs had set as a target in September of this year. Popularity of the Pearl had to be a big part of that, don't you think?
• RIM execs have officially set a target of another 975,000 net subscriber additions by the beginning of March, 2007.