How's Your Blackberry?

<---That's a 1 year chart for Blackberry maker Reasearch in Motion (RIMM), which reports earnings tonight. Note the very fancy basing action that the stock has been grinding out since the November lows (the stock has been underperforming).

RIMM has had its lunch money stolen by the iPhone and needs to get its act together. If you're a traditional tech investor you probably don't want RIMM to report a great quarter. Tech investors generally look for innovation to get rewarded. Apple has out-innovated RIMM, and Palm is on the way this quarter with something new and maybe better. Other than the touch screen, there's nothing all that new or different about the Blackberry.

I'm looking for a 1 - 3 quarter spurt of margin discipline and a pop in the stock followed by a resumption of the innovation-rules construct - if RIMM can't get back ahead of the pack, the stock is not going to work longer-term.

I like it ahead of tonight's earnings, though.