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Thursday, June 28, 2012
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RIM Pushes Back BlackBerry 10 Launch After Posting Huge Loss
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Research In Motion Ltd on Thursday posted a huge operating loss and delayed the launch of its next-generation BlackBerry phones until early next year.
The successful launch of the BlackBerry 10 platform and the delivery of full-featured BlackBerry 10 smartphones remain the company?s number one priority. However, RIM says that the integration all the new features along with the associated large volume of code to the new software platform will take more time than it initially expected. As a result, the company now expects to launch the first BlackBerry 10 smartphones in market in Q1 of calendar 2013.
"RIM's development teams are relentlessly focussed on ensuring the quality and reliability of the platform and
I will not compromise the product by delivering it before it is ready. I am confident that the first BlackBerry
10 smartphones will provide a ground-breaking next generation smartphone user experience," said Thorsten Heins, President and CEO. "We are encouraged by the traction that the BlackBerry 10 platform is gaining with application developers and content partners following the successful BlackBerry Jam sessions that we have
held around the world since the beginning of May. Similarly, the reception of the BlackBerry 10 platform by our key carrier partners has been very positive and they are looking forward to going to market with BlackBerry 10 smartphones in the first quarter of calendar 2013."
The delay, along with the operating loss posted for the quarter, could be a disaster for the company.
Revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 was $2.8 billion, down 33% from $4.2 billion in the previous quarter and down 43% from $4.9 billion in the same quarter of fiscal 2012. The revenue breakdown for the quarter was approximately 59% for hardware, 36% for service and 5% for software and other revenue. During the quarter, RIM shipped 7.8 million BlackBerry smartphones and approximately 260,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets.
RIM has pledged to slash $1 billion from its operating costs this year and plans to cut 5,000 jobs, as its BlackBerry smartphone shipments fell sharply for a second straight quarter.
The company also plans to keep streamlining its supply chain, which includes the consolidation of its manufacturing footprint from 10 external manufacturing sites to three. Parts of the company's Global Repair operations, including management of device level repairs will be outsourced to other companies. |
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