IT Brief New Zealand - Technology news for CIOs & IT decision-makers
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Fri, 16th Sep 2011
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Blackberry maker Research In Motion (RIM) has again reported poor quarterly results, with shipments falling short of expectations and profit dropping by more than 50% year-on-year.

10.6 million Blackberry smartphones and 200,000 PlayBook tablets were shipped during the quarter ended August 27, compared with analysts' estimates of 11.9 million and 700,000 respectively.

Profits were US$329 million, compared with US$729 million for the same period in 2010.

The results also reveal the company spent US$780 million in July purchasing the patent portfolio of bankrupt technology company Nortel, as part of a consortium including Apple and Sony.

Shares in RIM were understandably down, falling 18% to US$24.12.

RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie remains optimistic, however, saying the company is seeing strong interest in the Blackberry 7 smartphone range, released late in the quarter.

"We will continue to build on the success of the Blackberry 7 launch to drive the business as we focus our development efforts on delivering the next generation QNX-based mobile platform next year,” Balsillie says.