$518 Million Lost: BB 10 Launch Date Pushed to 2013

By Thea Neuman (Google)

RIM was completely a bundle of nerves until its first fiscal quarter 2013 results came out, and as Canadian tech-giant RIM feared, it had its chips. The company that was sitting on pins and needles while awaiting fiscal results witnessed a net GAAP loss of whopping $518 million, and its revenue accounted just for $2.8 million. This wide gap between losses and revenues is indeed a major concern for such a big smartphone company that was once on a leading position in the tech-world.

RIM was established in 1984 in Waterloo, Ontario as a designer, producer, and wireless device vendor and solution provider for global mobile communications market, but it got off to a flying start with Blackberry super phones. The captivating charm of BB wooed end users, and despite of new and chic Android smartphones, and sleek sophisticated iPhones, BB charm didn’t fade due to its unique appeal and extremely user-friendly messenger app.

Anyways, after these fiscal results, RIM’s CEO, Thorstein Heins revealed that RIM has delayed the launch of much-talked upcoming BB 10 handsets, and now these devices will be out by 2013 first quarter because RIM’s development team wants to deliver the best BB smartphones. Whether be it quality or user-friendliness, be it consistent performance or be it sophisticated features, RIM doesn’t want to lag behind in any aspect than its rivals. He also added further that RIM will only roll out its new BB devices when it will be assured that every single detail regarding BB 10 models has been taken care. And once it will be out in the market, it will offer cutting-edge technology.

This news is naturally upsetting for those BB fans who were waiting to grab an advanced BB model with bated breath. Though RIM was successful in grabbing developers’ interest but surpassing end-user’s expectations is something which will decide the fate of RIM.

“ RIM didn’t forget to highlight that its subscriber base grown predominantly in Asia, Europe and Middle East. They have hit a landmark of 78 million subscribers worldwide, which is another milestone after they reached 70 million users last September. RIM has acknowledged that Blackberry Bold has been particularly popular among users. And if you thought Playbooks haven’t been well-liked, RIM is set out to ship 260,000 Playbooks really soon.

They paused trading on May 29, anticipating a huge loss in fiscal quarter results. The ruthless lay-off policy, where RIM laid off about 5000 workers to cut back its financial losses, also met with severe criticism.

It is apparent that RIM seriously needs to adopt a strategic outlook if it aspires to regain its foothold in the market. It can’t be in a world of its own, just busy in doing things according to its convenience. Time has come when it will have to keep an eye on its arch rivals’ moves. Or in a nutshell; time has come when it will have to think about some serious re-engineering and benchmarking. RIM does possess strength, hence reviving and returning back to previous leading position won’t be that difficult, provided if feasible strategies are framed.