Just when you thought RIM could not sink any lower, it has managed to do worse in the first quarter of this year with announcements that drive observers to note that RIM is surely on a doomed path.
The first of these announcements is a $518-million loss in the first quarter of the year, the Canadian handsets and tablet maker’s first net loss in eight years.
RIM has indicated in its earnings performance report that despite a revenue of $2.8 billion, it lost $0.37 per share. This loss is compared to a $695 million net profit in the same quarter of last year; already a small amount of income for RIM compared to its past billions in profit, but still not in the red.
“Our first-quarter results reflect the market challenges I have outlined since my appointment as CEO at the end of January. I am not satisfied with these results and continue to work aggressively with all areas of the organization,” RIM CEO Thorsten Heins said.
As if that wasn’t enough, RIM has also announced that it will be further pushing back the launch of the first smartphone to run on its next-generation BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system.
RIM is looking to its new range of BlackBerry 10 smartphones to save the company from its demise.
Further illustrating that RIM is in dire straights, RIM also announced that it is cutting almost a third of its employee population. 5,000 out of 16,500 employees will soon be without a job from RIM.
RIM is broken.
Heins, who became the CEO of the crumbling tech giant in January, has been quoted as saying previously that development of the BlackBerry 10 OS, and handsets which will be powered by it, is on track.
Nonetheless, on Thursday, the CEO said that the delay with BlackBerry 10 is not caused by the technology they will put into the OS. He said that the company is overpowered by the total amount of software code RIM is working on.
He promised, however, that RIM will not deliver a half-baked product with the BlackBerry 10 OS and smartphones.
“I will not deliver a product to market that will not meet the needs of our customers,” he said.
He also remains optimistic about RIM said that “there’s a lot of competition coming, that’s the nature of the consumer electronics business” and that RIM is “not afraid of it.”
Nonetheless, RIM has had its senior executives leave left and right.
Image from miggslives on Flickr (CC)
About Solon Harmony Dolor
A passion for technology and journalism makes this upcoming writer very interested in social media and technology news. Fresh from finishing an English and Journalism degree from the University of the Philippines Diliman, he aims to bring interesting news to our readers .
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The sinking boat capsizes…
RIM has strange culture and self distruct political environment.
In RIM if a new hired person figure out major problem and introduce efficient approach, both manager and his buddy group member will proof their wrong approach works. just like someone point out driving a car is right way, pushing a car is wrong way, then both manager and his buddy group member will hate you, and proof that 3 person can also move the car by pushing it. cheating email will be sent to some vice president, saying like: see, the car moving, pushing a car is a natural part of the process, in order to deny new hired contribution of introducing skill of drive a car, they have to deny merit of driving a car.
It is very strange company culture and strange company political environment, it promote stealing and cheating skill. RIM's management may be a typical instance in MBA course.
This culture deny or steal hardworking team members' contribution/innovation, generate strange political environment, destroy RIM.