RIM Misses the Mark for Q1, Announces Buyback
Mid-year judgment day for RIM, with its first quarter performance not rising to expectations. Despite the growing evidence supporting an interest in smart phones beyond the BlackBerry, analysts may have set the bar too high for RIM. But not unreasonably high. The company still saw a 20% increase in profits, with revenues increasing 24 % to $4.24 billion.
Even though BlackBerry has seen overall growth in sales profits during the fourth quarter (RIM shipped its 100 millionth BlackBerry during that time), stocks dipped shortly after RIM’s report. Some figures shared by mocoNews:
—About 4.9 million net new BlackBerry subscriber accounts were added in the quarter, which makes its total BlackBerry subscriber base more than 46 million.
—RIM says that in Q2, it expects revenues to range between $4.4-$4.6 billion.
—Q2 net subscriber additions in Q1 are expected to range between 4.9-5.2 million.
—Q1 earnings per share is expected to fall between $1.33 and $1.40 a share.
In the face of the iPhone 4 launch, Google Android’s growth and a weakening dependency on BlackBerries in the enterprise sector, RIM is being watched closely for its next move. RIM isn’t standing by idly, watching its empire demise. An upcoming release of its OS6 should not only boost developer interest, but sales as well.
Anticipation is rising around RIM’s new releases, which should soon include upgraded mobile devices. To say the least, RIM is going to require a massive restructuring of its tactics around marketing, devices and its micro-ecosystem. Perhaps its plan to buy back about 31 million shares is a step towards having control over such a large shift.
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