Research in Motion Ltd’s (NASDAQ:RIMM) BlackBerry smart phones and Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT) wireless devices may benefit from AT&T Inc’s (NYSE:T) newly announced plan to cut out unlimited data plans, according to a MarketWatch report. According to analysts, cheaper offerings might bring in more customers for Research in Motion and Motorola, particularity Research in Motion’s popular BlackBerry devices, which typically consume fewer data bandwidth than rival Apple Inc’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhones. Evidence supporting such predictions can already be seen from the 4% boost in shares Research in Motion received in earlier trading Wednesday at $61.50, as well as for Motorola shares, which were up over 1.4% at $6.80. AT&T announced plans to begin its new data pricing plans for smart phones before the opening bell Wednesday morning, which will reportedly include a new $15-per-month service and a $25-per-month service, allowing users to use 2 gigabytes of data per month. The carrier’s $30-per-month unlimited plan will be phased out as AT&T increases its efforts to more effectively handle runaway data usage from Apple iPhones, which are exclusively carried by AT&T in the US Travis McCourt of Morgan Keegan wrote in a note to clients: “We expect other wireless carriers to follow suit, and for this new pricing to substantially increase adoption of smart phones as the ‘data pricing’ hurdle has just been cut by 50%.” Research in Motion released a company statement Wednesday as well, citing …
 

Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) announced that it has agreed to purchase 2 million of its outstanding common shares for cancellation, representing about 0.36% of its common shares outstanding on April 5, 2010. The purchases were made pursuant to an issuer bid exemption order issued by the Ontario Securities Commission. The common shares repurchased through private agreements, with the 3935800 million shares that RIM repurchased through the facilities of the NASDAQ Stock Market since the beginning of April, complete the $1.2 billion share repurchase program announced in November of 2009.
 

Mike Lazaridis, CEO of Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM), warned that smartphone manufacturers must begin developing less bandwidth-guzzling phones or may risk overloading already congested airwaves. The comments are a clear stab at the blackberry-maker’s rivals like Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG). Wireless carriers, especially those in urban centers, are already showing signs of overloaded bandwidth. “Manufacturers had better start building more efficient applications and more efficient services. There is no real way to get around this,” Lazardis said in an interview with Reuters.