Did you hear that? I wonder if you heard the same thing I did. It's the sound of thousands of anguished BlackBerry supporters gnashing their teeth and are throwing their old BB handsets at the wall. Instead of being able to upgrade to the new BlackBerry 10 devices this year, they will have to wait till Q1 2013.
This is on top of a first-quarter loss of US$518 million, with a revenue of US$2.8 billion. While this may sound like it's not a bad thing--companies sometimes do make losses, they can recover by the end of the fiscal year--RIM is actually down 33 percent from the same quarter last year where it posted US$4.2 billion in revenue. It has also led to the company letting go 5,000 workers by the end of its fiscal year.
While RIM remains strong in Asia (it's particularly popular in Indonesia), that's may not be sufficient for the company--it's been reported that most Indonesian customers just want a phone that lets them access Facebook and WhatsApp. It doesn't matter if it's a BlackBerry device or a budget Android smartphone--Indonesian customers will get it as long as it's cheap.
That's not really a good sign since any smartphone worth its salt will be able to do just that.
RIM's CEO Thorsten Heins has stated in the RIM earnings call that the company will not be switching to Android.
"We're not trying to be one of many," he said. "We are trying to be different. If I continue to rely on someone else's OS and someone else's platform, would that allow me in the long run to really differentiate?"
Given that 2012 will see a new iPhone, more Windows Phone 8 products and new Android handsets featuring Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean, consumers are spoilt for choice for their next smartphones. Chances are that by the time the first quarter of next year rolls around, RIM may already be irrelevant.
Via CNET
