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Embattled smartphone maker Research in Motion (RIM) has confirmed it will delay the launch of its new mobile operating system Blackberry 10 and cut 5,000 jobs worldwide.
The job losses and delay were confirmed today after the company reported a net loss of £334m in three months to June 2nd, a lot worse than analysts had been predicting. This compares with a $695m profit in the same period last year.
Revenue in the first quarter slumped by 43% to £2.8bn and was blamed on a sharp fall in sales of their smartphones. RIM has been haemorrhaging marketshare to both Apple and Android over the last 2 years.
The Canadian firm has, of course, been pinning its hopes on a comeback with their much talked about Blackberry 10 operating system and new handsets.
RIM’s future seems to be getting bleaker by the quarter, especially with today’s announcement that they’re delaying their new OS – which it’s puts even more pressure on the company to make Blackberry 10 a success.
Blackberry 10 has been plagued with delays and was expected this March – then it was postponed to Christmas 2012 and now its been kicked into the ether of sometime in 2013.
Poor sales of the PlayBook may also be seen as a bad omen – as the tablet already runs on the QNX system on which Blackberry 10 is based upon.
“Our first quarter results reflect the market challenges I have outlined since my appointment as CEO at the end of January,” said RIM boss Thorsten Heins.
“I am not satisfied with these results and continue to work aggressively with all areas of the organisation and the board to implement meaningful changes to address the challenges, including a thoughtful realignment of resources and honing focus within the company on areas that have the greatest opportunities.
“Our top priority going forward is the successful launch of our first Blackberry 10 device, which we now anticipate will occur in the first quarter of calendar 2013.”
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