RIM Warns of Weak Quarter
By CAROLYN KING
Research In Motion Ltd. posted a 32% jump in quarterly earnings, but the BlackBerry maker warned of lower revenue and average prices for its devices in the current period. Shares fell about 8% in late trading.
The Canadian company said it shipped about 14.9 million smartphones in the quarter ended Feb. 26, near the top end of its guidance of 14.5 million to 15 million units, but below the 16.2 million iPhones Apple Inc. sold in its December quarter.
Earlier this week, RIM said the North American launch of its PlayBook tablet is set for April 19. On Thursday, the company said its device, which runs on RIM's own QNX software, would be able to run apps designed for Google Inc.'s Android operating system.
RIM said it will "greatly expand the application ecosystem" for the PlayBook by launching two "app players" that will allow Android apps as well as BlackBerry Java apps to run. The app players are expected to be available this summer.
The company said Thursday the tablet's release would not be affected by the quake in Japan, and it plans to release three more tablets later this year.
The PlayBook launch comes as RIM struggles to compete in the U.S. against Apple and a slew of devices that run on Google's Android software. The competition is coming in both the consumer and corporate-smartphone markets, the latter of which RIM has traditionally dominated.
In the February quarter, RIM earned $934 million, or $1.78 a share, compared with $710 million, or $1.27 a share a year ago. Revenue was $5.56 billion, up from $4.08 billion a year ago.
For the fiscal first quarter, RIM forecast earnings of $1.47 to $1.55 a share on revenue of $5.2 billion to $5.6 billion. The outlook is below the recent Thomson Reuters mean estimates for the quarter of earnings of $1.65 a share on revenue of $5.642 billion.
RIM said the guidance reflects a mix shift in handset towards lower average selling prices in the first quarter and an increased level of investment in its tablet and platform initiatives. The guidance range is also wider than usual "to reflect the risk of potential disruption in RIM's supply chain as a result of the recent earthquake in Japan," it said.
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