RIM, Palm hit hard by iPhone announcement

If you’re the investing type and you happen to be holding on to some Palm or RIM stock, yesterday wasn’t a good day for you. Today isn’t much better. Upon announcement of the real Apple iPhone, Apple stock started shooting up, gaining over 8%. By contrast, both Research in Motion (makers of the BlackBerry) and Palm took significant hits, with their stocks plummeting near 8% and 6% respectively. And the trend is continuing.

Other cell phone manufacturers — like Nokia and Motorola — also suffered hits, but nothing nearly as dramatic as what happened to the PDA phone makers who specialize more in push email and QWERTY keyboards. In fact, yesterday represented “a total loss of market value approaching $2.2 billion dollars [sic]. Meanwhile, Apple’s one=button bounce on the day was a stunning $6.1 billion.”