RIM announces Q4 revenues miss, top executives leaving company
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion halted stock trades before announcing a billion dollar sequential drop in quarterly revenues substantially below its guidance on shipments of 11.1 million smartphones and a half million PlayBook tablets.
RIM had offered guidance of $4.6 to $4.98 billion in revenue for its fourth fiscal quarter (ending March 3), but only announced revenues of $4.2 billion, down 19 percent from $5.2 billion in the previous quarter.
The company announced a GAAP net loss of $125 million, with 11.1 million smartphones hitting the low end of its previous guidance (of 11-12 million BlackBerry smartphones) and down 21 percent from the previous quarter's shipments.
For all of fiscal 2012, RIM announced revenues of $18.4 billion, down 7 percent from 2011's $19.9 billion.
The company also announced pre-tax charges of $54 million related to a service interruption the company experienced in the third quarter last fall (which required service credits to affected users), and a $485 million "inventory provision" made for the poor selling PlayBook tablet.
Top executives exit
RIM also announced that former "co-chief executive" Jim Balsillie has resigned as a director of the company's board.
The company's chief technology officer David Yach and global chief operations officer Jim Rowan are also both leaving the company as well, leaving the company in need of a new COO.
No more guidance
Thorsten Heins, RIM's new president and chief executive, announced that the company would no longer provide "specific qualitative guidance" because it expects "continued pressure on revenue and earnings throughout fiscal 2013," and out of "a desire to focus on long term value creation and the current business environment."
"Some of the factors contributing to this," the company noted in a press release, "include ongoing weakness in the Company’s U.S. smartphone business, an increased focus on selling BlackBerry 7 smartphones to grow the subscriber base in advance of the BlackBerry 10 launch, increasing competitive pressure in the Company’s international markets and the introduction of certain new lower tier service pricing initiatives and a higher mix of sales coming from entry level products."
Heins noted that "the next few quarters will continue to be challenging for our business.”
iPhone vs Blackberry
Back in the third calendar quarter of 2008, Apple's then chief executive Steve Jobs first announced that "Apple beat RIM" in quarterly sales, noting that "RIM is a good company that makes good products. And so it is surprising that after only fifteen months on the market that we could outsell them in any quarter."
After iPhone 3G sales peaked during its launch quarter, RIM's BlackBerry shipments again surpassed Apple, but iPhones continued to grow to the point where, in the third quarter of 2010, Jobs could announce, "We sold 14.1 million iPhones in the quarter, a 91% unit growth over year ago and way ahead of IDC's estimate of 64% growth for global smartphone market.
"It handily beat RIM's 12.1 million Blackberries sold in their last quarter. We've now passed RIM. I don't see them catching up with us in the foreseeable future. It will be a challenge for them to create a mobile software platform and convince developers to support a third platform."
While Apple and RIM report sales on staggered quarterly definitions, Apple most recently sold a peak quarterly total of 37 million iPhones worldwide, compared to RIM's 11.1 million BlackBerry shipments this quarter, and over 15.4 million iPads.
[ View article on AppleInsider ]
Comments
The ship is sinking, and its captains are abandoning as quickly as possible, but we all saw this coming, RIM has nothing that can ever compete in the modern mobile space, and its only a matter of time before they're acquired by GOOGLE or APPLE.
The only reason Google or Apple would ever acquire RIM is for the patents. I can't imagine much of the good talent is still there, and it's not like any of the technologies they currently have are anything to spend money on.
Am I missing something?
Now everyone can do internet on their smart phone.
This should be a lesson for tech companies. The new generation are alway looking for new sh** and if you can't appease them then the other guy/gal will.
If it weren't for Android, RIM would never have fallen so far and fast as it did. I don't think Apple is to blame for this debacle. It's those dirt cheap Android smartphones that did RIM in.
If it weren't for Android, RIM would never have fallen so far and fast as it did. I don't think Apple is to blame for this debacle. It's those dirt cheap Android smartphones that did RIM in.
True, Android (especially iOS) had lots to do with nailing RIM's coffin. Doesn't excuse RIM's complete lack of vision and inability to act.
Heck, Android didn't really exist in any real production form when the iPhone came out so in essence, RIM had that much more of a head start than Android did. The fat-cats on the top just got caught sleeping and figured their gravy-train would never end.
Right now Apple is just starting to gain traction in those government and corporate markets and every one of those sales is being taken from RIM. Apple already took 90% of RIM's consumer users. I still see several BBs in Latin America and some US teens also but their popularity is eroding fast.
They still have a good chunk of the market in the middle east and Africa, but this business will go away too, as Android and iPhone distribution continue to expand.
It goes to show that even those companies seemingly at the top of their game can fall fast. I'm sure Apple realized this - which is what has been driving their push to rope people into their eco-system. It makes it that much harder to move away from an Apple product if everything you have is tied to it in some way. At this point, there isn't really any other option for people to even consider - and no reason to consider looking.
RIP RIM
I don't think Apple is to blame for this debacle. It's those dirt cheap Android smartphones that did RIM in.
That's true to a degree but it was the iPhone that defined a new paradigm for smartphones and left RIM behind. Ultimately, RIM and its co-CEO's are to blame for what happened. They just refused to believe that iOS and Android would be a threat and by the time they realized that the likes of Apple and the Droid phone makers are eating their lunch, it was way too late.
The only possible chance RIM has of creating a company worth owning would be to tightly integrate with Windows 8 OS. There is no way RIM can create its own platform. If RIM jumped on board with MS, they could use their hardware brand to be a top MS OS seller. This would work out nicely for BB business customers who want compatibility with MS software, especially Word. Blackberry is in as good or better position than any MS hardware manufacturer to attract customers who want a seamless experience from phone to tablet. It is a match made in heaven. BB is a hardware manufacturer with a customer base and MS has the software and platform they need.
Am I missing something?
I agree with your assessment. Either MS Windows or Google's Android. Users wouldn't care about the platform running their devices, as long as it worked and was compatible. There's huge populations that continue to buy BlackBerry simply because of the brand, not the quality of the products or user experience. Sad, really, but that's an opportunity for RIM to repair their sinking ship.
That's true to a degree but it was the iPhone that defined a new paradigm for smartphones and left RIM behind. Ultimately, RIM and its co-CEO's are to blame for what happened. They just refused to believe that iOS and Android would be a threat and by the time they realized that the likes of Apple and the Droid phone makers are eating their lunch, it was way too late.
Exactly!
The problem is, enterprise has already been effected by the consumer push towards iPhones and android. Many companies and agencies are allowing employees to purchase their own iPhones, saving company money and keeping employees happy.
I predict a much more rapid decline for RIM now that things are playing out the way they are. I wonder what this means for the launch of their new phones this year? Any bets they'll miss the target on them? Especially given both the head of software and operations are gone? Their stock is going to get absolutely hammered.
Jim Balsillie could be an Italian cruise ship captain the way he's abandoning that sinking ship.
I'm sure he had a golden parachute drop him into a convenient lifeboat.
I thought it was a nice gesture for the company to throw a going-away party. It must have been planned with short notice since all anyone brought were a barrel of tar and a few feather pillows.
Apple most recently sold a peak quarterly total of 37 million iPhones worldwide, compared to RIM's 11.1 million BlackBerry shipments this quarter, and over 15.4 iPads.
I shure hope the poor soul who bought the 0.4 iPad got a refund!
(Update: Ooops, Shunnabunich beat me to it!)