BlackBerry Cobbler, Anyone?
by John Paczkowski
Posted on September 24, 2009 at 1:50 PM PT
What a disappointing report from Research in Motion. For its fiscal second quarter, the BlackBerry maker posted sales and an outlook that fell short of analysts’ expectations.
Earnings slipped by four percent, with RIM (RIMM) making $475.6 million, or 83 cents per share. Excluding one-time items, however, RIM earned $1.03 per share on sales of $3.53 billion, compared with 86 cents per share on sales of $2.58 billion in the same period last year. The Street had expected the company to turn in a profit of $1 per share on sales of $3.62 billion, according to a consensus from Thomson Reuters. RIM also shipped slightly fewer devices than analysts had hoped. The company said it sold about 8.3 million BlackBerry devices during the quarter, adding about 3.8 million new subscribers. Analysts had expected the company to add about 4 million new subscribers on shipments between 8.5 million and 8.6 million.
Looking ahead, RIM gave a per-share earnings outlook of between $1 and $1.08 for its third quarter, compared with a $1.05-per-share average expected by analysts.
Suffice it to say, investors are not pleased. RIM’s shares are down about 10 percent in extended trading as I write this.
Comments
John,
Posted by Joe Pann at September 25th, 2009 at 6:59 amI would never buy a BlackBerry product again, because their Tech Support people are so rude.
I had contacted them with a wireless carrier “upgraded” ticket number about a live IP cam video feed and they wouldn’t even attempt an answer – they blamed the carrier and Linksys and rudely said I have to contact them. Who needs a company with that attitude?
I too would never buy another Blackberry. Their web browsing is painful. I had one for two years and only used it when I was desperately lost and trying to find where I was going. And that was two or three times in those two years.
T-Mobile didn’t help with their walled garden Internet simulation that tried to keep you off the real Internet so they could monetize your browsing more efficiently.
I got more value for my money with my iPhone in the first couple of months, than I got from the data plan for my Blackberry for two years.
That’s why Blackberry is down. People are seeing how their proprietary software that businesses have to use, and their servers in Canada that every email has to go through, and all the other nonsense is a big downer compared to the iPhone or the Pre.
Posted by Eric Welch at September 25th, 2009 at 8:03 am