RIM reports125 million dollar loss

Published:  30 Mar at 6 PM

As reported by the BBC, Blackberry maker Research in Motion (RIM) has annouced a quarterly loss, blaming it in part to lower revenues from weak smartphone shipments.

The Canadian firm made a $125 million (£78 million) lossfor the three months leading up to March 3, compared to a profit of $934 million one year earlier. Revenues have fallen from $5.2 billion to $4.2 billion.

The company has also hinted it will refocus on the corporate sector instead of on individual consumers, also announcing the resignation of ex co-CEO Jim Balsillie. David Yacht, Chief technology officer, will also soon be standing down.

Company shares dropped as much as 9 percent in after-hours trading after the firm’s trading statement. Shares have dropped 80 percent over the past year.

BlackBerry smartphones shipments in the quarter dropped to 11.1 million, which is down 21 percent from the prior three-month period. PlayBook tablets shipments hit 500,000, mainly due to major discounts.

For the complete financial year, the firm made a profit of $1.2 billion, down from $3.4 billion during the previous year. The reports were worse than economists had expected, while RIM shares dropped sharply during after-hours trading.

Research in Motion has struggled keeping up with rivals of the smartphone market, including Apple's iPhone and Google's Android operating system. It has also had a tough time gaining strength in the tablet market.