RIM Ships 6.9 Million BlackBerrys in Q3, Loses Subscribers

News
By Zak Islam
published

Smartphone maker reports profit during fiscal third quarter due to favorable tax settlement.

Research in Motion posted a profit during the fiscal third quarter due to a favorable tax settlement, but it also saw a considerable decrease in the amount of subscribers.

The BlackBerry developer reported a profit of $14 million, which equates to 3 cents a share. Comparatively, the firm made a profit of $265 million in 2011 during the same period, which was 51 cents a share. This year's Q3, meanwhile, saw revenue decreasing by nearly half to $2.72 billion. It reported a loss of $114 million, or 22 cents a share.

The results, however, were better than what Wall Street expected. RIM was foreseen to post a loss of 35 cents a share on revenue of $2.66 billion. RIM's stock increased by 7.6 percent to $15.19 in after-hours trading following the release of the profits statement.

RIM's customer base, though, decreased by 1 million to 79 million subscribers during the same period. The company shipped 6.9 million BlackBerry smartphones and 255,000 PlayBook tablets.

RIM stressed that it would face continued pressure during the next quarter; the firm will consider using "pricing incentives" to ship BlackBerry 7 devices, as well as potentially lowering its service fees to keep its customers and spearhead growth.

Due to the potential promotional activity and the marketing investment pertaining to BlackBerry 10, RIM expects to post another operating loss during the fiscal fourth quarter. The platform will launch worldwide on January 30, which is the date where the firm will officially reveal the first devices powered by the upcoming mobile operating system.

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Zak Islam
10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • dozerman
    Sitting in drawers, huh? I can tell you for a fact that the blackberry torch in my hands that I am sending this from is not sitting in a drawer.
    Reply
  • anononon
    Outside the US RIMs market share is still strong. The loss of one million is suspected to be majority business's that ran to the ifail and android wagon. Come Jan. it will be very interesting to see what happens, given RIMs performance in the NYSE this past month, even investors are turning an eye.

    I am looking forward to BB10, something new and another option will be nice to have out there. The security factor is always a plus.

    Reply
  • redeemer
    My HTC One X is great, though I do miss Blackberry for the BBM, and tight messaging integration. Pretty stoked for January cannot wait to see these new BB10 devices in all its glory.
    Reply
  • walter87
    anonononOutside the US RIMs market share is still strong. The loss of one million is suspected to be majority business's that ran to the ifail and android wagon. Come Jan. it will be very interesting to see what happens, given RIMs performance in the NYSE this past month, even investors are turning an eye. I am looking forward to BB10, something new and another option will be nice to have out there. The security factor is always a plus.People (analysts) thought two quarters ago that BlackBerry would have started to see a lose of subscribers. It was inevitable that they would have eventually see the subscriber base lower when your stuck selling year old phones and only newer Curve models (which mostly went to developing markets). Analysts and investors keep pushing that RIM would not succeed, yet they've managed to almost add $1Billion in cash reserves and barely on the brink of releasing their new products.

    Next quarter should be interesting indeed.

    Reply
  • getreal
    redeemerMy HTC One X is great, though I do miss Blackberry for the BBM, and tight messaging integration. Pretty stoked for January cannot wait to see these new BB10 devices in all its glory.
    Get an iPhone. iMessages are way better, plus everyone uses an iPhone, so you will use them almost exclusively.
    Reply
  • rjb1311
    apparently RIM still has many left to pay some pumpers.
    Reply
  • professorturtle
    Imho, RIM'll fall like Nokia. Top of the line for business once upon a time - but overthrown due to newer, more simple technology. Unless they can come up with genius apps/features exclusive to Blackberry, find developers to develop for an appmarket, create some genius OS from ground up, etc - they've lost the competition altogether.
    Reply
  • redeemer
    Sorry but iphone is not for me, furthermore imessage requires me to give out my phone # which is horrible, BBM I can block anyone I want

    Reply
  • dozerman
    professorturtleImho, RIM'll fall like Nokia. Top of the line for business once upon a time - but overthrown due to newer, more simple technology. Unless they can come up with genius apps/features exclusive to Blackberry, find developers to develop for an appmarket, create some genius OS from ground up, etc - they've lost the competition altogether.Uhh... They already have an app market with a huge number of developers, and BB10 already has more apps than the iPhone had at launch. Way more. So far as creating a genious OS, that's kind of already what they're doing now. Exclusive features have been here for years in the form of BBM, awesome keyboards, and formfactors that other compaies aren't even willing to try.
    Reply
  • dozerman
    iknowhowtofixitMy old Droid 2 slider from 2.5 years ago is more capable than any current BlackBerry. After the BlackBerry "Storm" and all the hype that surrounded that steaming pile of garbage, I've learned to take an "I'll believe it when I see it" approach. Currently BlackBerries fail at email, apps, making phone calls, and usability. Maybe this new OS and new phones will fix those things, maybe it won't. We'll just have to see.
    Not even debatable. My wife had the Droid 2 slider. Any semi-modern BlackBerry will blow it out of the water. Emails come straight to the start screen, the calendar app is super easy to use, messages and contacts are way better; I could go on for awhile...
    Reply