RIM Reports Record Quarter: New Subscribers, Upgrades, Revenues and Profit
It's not just my imagination when traveling or attending business events this fall; the Blackberry is becoming evermore ubiquitous. Yesterday RIM reported results for their third quarter ending December 1 and the numbers exceeded analyst expectations:
- 1.65 million new Blackberry users
- > 3.9 million units sold (with 2.2 million upgrades)
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Revenue and net income doubled from same quarter a year ago;
- Revenue up 22% from previous quarter; net income up 30%
- And on the consumer acceptance front, Globe and Mail Report on Business reports:
“It is clear from the results in this quarter that BlackBerry smart phones have crossed over,” RIM co-chief executive officer Jim Balsillie said during a Thursday conference call to discuss the Waterloo, Ont.-based company's third-quarter results with analysts.
“Black Friday1 was a record day and it used to be an unusually slow day.”
While there are probably going to be some significant numbers reported for Apple's iPhone, RIM is certainly not being affected other than iPhone's raising the awareness of smart phones across a broader consumer base. And with the upgrade numbers, Blackberry certainly has a loyal user base moving up to 83xx Curves and 88xx Series offerings.
In other RIM developments:
- Globe and Mail ROB also reports on two potential new models: a Touchscreen device (Blackberry 9000?) with an iPhone-like touch sensitive display and a Pearl 2.0 with keyboard modifications.
- RIM is working with retailer Wireless Giant to open its first "Blackberry" store in Detroit's suburban Farmington Hills, MI.
- And in the same CBC report, RIM COO Don Morrison is quoted on the impact of high data plan rates: "North American carriers could sell eight or nine times more BlackBerry devices a week if they introduced cheaper data rates, like those in Europe."
- Building on previous Google "Blackberry" offerings, Om Malik reports: Blackberry Users Rejoice, Google Sync for Calendar Rocks:
one application that is going to pleasantly surprise everyone is the brand-new Google Sync, which makes your Google Calendar whisper sweet nothings to your Blackberry Calendar.
With the current and forthcoming Blackberry offerings, iPhones and the evolving Nokia N-Series and E-Series platforms, 2008 certainly has all the ingredients to be the "Year of the Smartphone". And will it also be the year of migration to 3G wireless in North America? It will be interesting to see where Skype plays in this space.
Related posts:
- Precursor to GPhone? On My Blackberry?
- Blackberry with WiFi - First Looks at the Blackberry 8820
- Getting to the Entire Rogers Data Plan Picture in Canada
- A Primer for Skype's Direction: Mobile Conversations
Tags: Blackberry, Research In Motion, RIM, iPhone, Wireless Giant, Jim Balsille, Don Morrison, Om Malik, Google Sync
1Black Friday is the unofficial launch of the U.S. Christmas buying season on the Friday following U.S. Thanksgiving.
Disclosure: The author has been the holder of a minuscule number of Research in Motion shares since 1998 and has now attended ten annual meetings that are held one hour from his home base.
