RIM posts strong results on 7.8M BlackBerry shipments

Updated 3:15 p.m. PDT with comments from conference call.

Research In Motion continued to post strong numbers in a bad economy, bypassing expectations for its first fiscal quarter amid sales of 7.8 million BlackBerrys.

The company on Thursday reported revenue of $3.42 billion, essentially in line with analyst estimates of $3.43 billion for the quarter, and up 52 percent from the same quarter last year. Excluding special charges related to the tax liabilities concerning stock options (perhaps this), and a one-time boost from a change in tax rules, net income was $564.4 million, or 98 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call were looking for 94 cents per share.

RIM added 3.8 million new BlackBerry subscriber accounts during the quarter, just slightly below the 3.9 million new accounts added in the previous quarter. Around 80 percent of those new subscribers were consumers, said Jim Balsillie, RIM's co-CEO, on a conference call following the release of the company's results.

Looking into the current quarter, which has already seen the launch of the Palm Pre and Friday will see the launch of the iPhone 3G S, RIM said it expects revenue between $3.45 billion and $3.7 billion. Earnings per share should fall between 97 cents and $1.03. Analysts were looking for $3.61 billion in revenue and earnings per share of 97 cents.

Balsillie downplayed any notion that either the launch of the Pre or the aggressive $99 pricing on the iPhone 3G would have an impact on RIM's business, noting that RIM has enjoyed aggressive promotions and discounts from its carrier partners, such as Verizon's "Buy One, Get One Free" promotion that will continue in the current quarter.

RIM also plans to launch several products this quarter and over the rest of the year that will carry the company into the holiday season, when buying generally picks up, Balsillie said.

[seven7dust]

wow! thats huge in this economy
I guess having phones on all carriers helps
plus there's the Obama effect as well !

[MaLvaDo39]

Buy one get one free sure helps with the numbers...

[slapppy]

I just checked. I'm pretty sure that the BUY ONE GET ONE FREE has NOTHING to do with this record quarter. Nope, nothing at all.

[Aaron Kempf]

wow thank goodness-- I love my blackberry.. I wish that MS bought blackberry instead of someone else.. At this point, I'll bet that Oracle buys Blackberry or something!!

Didn't Apple total shipments _FALL_ year over year??

[Random_Walk]

For the iPhone? Nope - unless you count 123% growth as a "fall":

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/41195

Maybe you should come out of the basement more... it's a real sunny day out here, y'know. :)

[seven7dust]

if MS bought Rim ! blackberries would suck cause they'll be using Windows mobile !

[The_happy_switcher]

Apple needs to unload AT&T into a ditch next year and expand the provider list. I think changes are coming in 2010.

[iBuzz]

And people continued to buy MS-DOS computers in 1986. BlackBerry is still providing some functionality that people still find useful. The problem is, as a web-connected, information appliance, the BlackBerry is really lacking compared to what else is out there. To put it mildly, its software network stack has some major problems that they still haven't addressed. WiFi connecticity and reliability are terrible especially when dealing with DNS issues. The very fact that each app has to contain special code to connect over WiFi is enough reason to stay away (i.e., just because one app has figured out how to connect over WiFi, doesn't mean that all of them have, and all of your apps may not work over WiFi). On other platforms, it's up to the OS to figure out which type of connection to use, and all apps will use that and are shielded from the differences (EDGE vs. 3G vs. WiFi). Not so on the BlackBerry. Each app has to go through hoops to figure out what types of wireless connections are available and which one to pick if there are multiple (BES, BIS, WAP gateway, Direct TCP, WiFi). And, once the app has figured out which connection type to use, it actually has to alter every command used to access the Internet depending on which type of connection it is using. It's absolute junk.

[billd888]

And yet most people with Blackberries love em, go figure, they must be doing something right.

[iBuzz]

My point is that for a phone with basic messaging capability, it works great. But as a web-connected device used for information retrieval, it's not up to par. In fact, the networking architecture that makes it perform well at doing push email is actually its Achilles' heel when it comes to browsing the Internet outside of your company's firewall. And, in the consumer space, allowing Internet access without requiring a connection to your company's BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), was clearly an afterthought, and it shows, because it doesn't work very well. Anyone who has done development on multiple platforms can tell you that the BlackBerry is the worst of them all when it comes to data transmission speeds and supporting simultaneous open connections. BlackBerry was optimized for a single connection to a BES server for compressed email transmission. It often comes up short when multiple apps are trying to access different sites on the open Internet at the same time and expecting a fairly larger pipe. The iPhone, Palm Pre, and Android perform much better at that.

If you just want a phone with company email integration, the BlackBerry has been optimized for that, and is a good choice. But if you expect a BlackBerry to provide you the same experience with third-party apps that access the Internet (like on the iPhone, Palm Pre, and Android), you're not going to get as good of an experience. That was my point.

[iBuzz]

This video illustrates why networking on the BlackBerry is extremely complicated and has much more overhead than networking on other devices: http://www.blackberry.com/DevMediaLibrary/view.do?name=NetworkingTransports

And, when you are downloading apps, do you trust that all BlackBerry developers will get this right? This is why apps have problems accessing the Internet on the BlackBerry. On other platforms, networking is much, much simpler and does not have the overhead of having to go through the RIM proxy infrastructure. Bottom line, on other mobile platforms, apps that access the Internet often work much better. There is something to be said for KISS (keep it simple, stupid).

[maineguy207]

Junk? I'm one of those people who uses a blackberry and I love it! I'll keep my ipod touch around but for a true smart phone I'll stick with my blackberry!

[stale_pancake]

I have have both a Blackberry and an iPod Touch. Same reason you describe.

High-five!

[AppleSuxLeo]

Oh Canada ! Good for RIM. And TY Canada for all the cute/slender French-Canadian girls.