BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) has released its financials for the fiscal first quarter of 2013, and things don't look too good. The company reported a net GAAP loss of $518 million, i.e. $0.99/share diluted, on revenues of $2.8 billion. In the previous quarter RIM reported a net loss of $125 million - $0.24/share diluted - on revenues of $3.1 billion. Ahead of the financials release, analysts expected the Canadian company to report a net loss of $0.03/share on revenues of $3.1 billion.
Despite its best efforts, RIM also reported that its first BlackBerry 100 smartphone is not expected to roll out this year. Instead, the launch has been pushed to the first quarter of calendar 2013. "RIM's development teams are relentlessly focused on ensuring the quality and reliability of the platform and I will not compromise the product by delivering it before it is ready," said Thorsten Heins, the company's chief executive. RIM had originally slated the BlackBerry 10 launch for "late 2012."
As the company struggles with declining market share and bleak outlooks, the delay of the BlackBerry 10 smartphone now poses yet another challenge. Developers are not exactly flocking to RIM's platform, and potential customers who have not shifted to iOS or Android yet may not have much patience left for RIM's redemption. The smartphone market is highly competitive, and RIM's delay in launching BlackBerry 10 is certainly not helping the company's position.
RIM also said it shipped 7.8 million BlackBerrys and roughly 260,000 BlackBerry Playbooks, compared to the 11.1 million BlackBerrys and "over" 500,000 PlayBooks shipped in the previous quarter.
RIM's financials paint a rather dark picture for the struggling company, but then again, there's not much of a surprise there. The company temporarily stopped trading on May 29 to issue a "business update," warning that a particularly tough transition period may translate into an operating loss this quarter. After announcing earlier in the year that it would no longer provide quantitative financial guidance, RIM's warning on May 29 came with no additional specifics.
Plenty of other events in RIM's recent roadmap indicate the company is more or less hanging by a thread. The company is currently undergoing a reorganization in an effort to turn things around. As part of this overhaul, the struggling BlackBerry maker plans to cut 5,000 more jobs, in addition to the recent layoffs.
The fiscal Q1 2013 financials dealt another blow to shareholder confidence, and RIM's stock price dropped to $8.87 per share at one point during trading the day of the announcement. The stock recovered toward the end of the day, but it was still dangerously close to the 52-week low of $8.83 a few days ago.
