In 2012, Will Canadians Stand Behind Research In Motion?

BY: 

Dave Forde
December 19, 2011

With their third quarter fiscal 2012 results issued last week, the world was unfortunately not surprised to see that the maker of the Blackberry and Playbook devices had what many call a lack luster quarter.  Last quarter they posted profit of $329 million for the quarter compared to $797 million for the same quarter in 2010, and their third quarter results revenue fell 10% to $4.17 billion, revenue of $5.2 billion, up 24% from last quarter

Research In Motion Third Quarter Fiscal 2012 Results:

  • BlackBerry smartphone shipments of 14.1 million, up 33% from Q2
  • Subscribers up 35% year-over-year to almost 75 million
  • Cash flow from operations of approximately $895 million

“Despite the challenges faced in the third quarter, the BlackBerry subscriber base grew to almost 75 million customers around the world. In addition, RIM launched a range of new BlackBerry 7 based smartphones globally and introduced holiday promotions that helped drive growth in the installed base of BlackBerry PlayBook users,” said Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, Co-CEOs at Research In Motion. “RIM continues to have strong technology, unique service capabilities and a large installed base of customers, and we are more determined than ever to capitalize on our strengths to overcome the recent execution challenges surrounding product launches and the resulting financial performance. As part of our commitment to improving our performance to better meet the expectations of shareholders and customers, we continue to evaluate ways to improve in several areas of the Company’s operations. It may take some time to realize the benefits of these efforts and the platform transition that we are undertaking, but we continue to believe that RIM has the right set of strengths and capabilities to maintain a leading role in the mobile communications industry.”

RIM’s Co-Founders also shared they expect that the next generation of Blackberry’s which are being called Blackberry 10 will not be ready to ship until the third quarter of 2012, which makes a pretty big hole in their product line up.
One good thing about Canadians, they tend to support their own, and according to a recent study by comScore they still do have a lead, but will this remain true as we move into 2012?

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Dave Forde


Dave “The Connector” Forde has been involved in the marketing, public relations and technology industry across Canada for over 20 years in various sales and marketing roles, he launched The Connected One network of business sites which connects buyers to the right sellers. Profectio and PR In Canada covers news about the marketing and public relations industry each day helping professionals advance their career and businesses. He also serves as an advisor to a number of businesses across the country. Find Dave on LinkedIn and Twitter.


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