Research in Motion (RIM), the Canadian manufacturer of the BlackBerry smartphone, has surprised analysts by posting a quarterly loss Thursday well below forecasts and confirming the launch of BlackBerry 10 "in the first quarter of 2013."
Certainly, it is the third consecutive results in the red, but the loss of 235 million U.S. dollars in the second quarter of fiscal offset, marks an improvement over the $ 518 million loss in the previous quarter, while still far from profit of 329 million recorded a year ago.
Excluding special items, the loss stood at 27 cents per share, while analysts were expecting 46 cents. The title jumped more than 20% in electronic trading after the close of North American exchanges.
RIM also managed to increase by approximately $ 100 million cash reserves, increased from 2.2 to 2.3 billion over this period ended September 1. This war chest it may be necessary to carry out the launch of its new operating system, BlackBerry 10, expected in Q1 2013.
The company established south of Toronto recognized expect a further loss in the next quarter. The launch date of the new operating system BlackBerry 10 has not changed, contrary to what some analysts qu'appréhendaient. The eyes of the latter, the future of RIM is suspended to the success or failure of the BlackBerry 10, while the Canadian company saw its market share, particularly in the United States, reduce sharply in recent years, benefit of Apple's iPhone and devices using Google's Android system.
The new operating system that will power the smartphone from RIM is "on track for launch in the first calendar quarter of 201," repeated the pattern of RIM Thorsten Heins.
It is unclear what advantages the unit will display compared to its competitors, with the exception of the ability to see incoming messages without losing sight of the current application, and the ability to perform many commands with a single finger. In any case you can get an idea a little more accurate BlackBerry 10, watching our little video tour.
Until that moment of truth, the boss of RIM is optimistic. "Despite the significant changes that we are introducing in our organization, the second quarter results show that RIM forward to meet its financial commitments and operational during this important transition," he said.
Tuesday, RIM announced that it had surpassed 80 million users worldwide, an increase of about two million, on the sidelines of a conference presentation BlackBerry 10 application developers.
But analysts, this is achieved through significant discounts to buyers of BlackBerry models currently on the market and this trend is expected to increase further, while potential customers to delay their purchases think waiting for the BlackBerry10.
In terms of price, "the environment is still very aggressive," observed Mr. Heins. Thus, according to Colin W. Gillis, analyst at BGC, the selling price of the BlackBerry fell 9.5% in the second quarter of fiscal offset 2012, expected to fall again to 9.0% in the next quarter and drop 20.6% and 25.0% over the next two quarters.
Meanwhile, the group continues its Waterloo slimming to reduce costs. Its staff was reduced by about two thousand people during the quarter, said Thursday Chief Financial Officer Brian Bidulka RIM during a conference call for financial analysts.
