Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM – News) was raised to buy by Sterne Agee, which expects the BlackBerry maker to gain from its new smartphones that feature the Blackberry 7 operating system. The analyst also said carriers want a viable option other than Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL – News) iPhone and handsets using Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG – News) Android software. The other top contender to be the 3rd long-term smartphone contender: Nokia (NYSE:NOK – News), with its Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT – News) Windows Mobile alliance. RIM shares rose 3.4% to 29.18.