PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
Blackberry maker RIM saw the firm’s shares plunge following the announcement of disappointing second quarter profits down to $329m from $797m the same quarter last year.
The firm sold 10.6 million smartphones, significantly less than analyst expectations and the firm’s own forecast. Poor sales of the firm’s new Playbook tablet also disappointed with just 200,000 sold in the second quarter, down from half a million from launch.
BlackBerry phones have taken a hammering in the market at the hands of Android and Apple. The launched a new range of devices with a touch screen interface but these arrived too late in the quarter to contribute much to the firm’s bottom line.
The firm also plans migrate operating system away from BlackBerry OS to QNX, an operating system BlackBerry acquired in April last year.
The company has yet to launch smartphones based on QNX and the recent poor results have bolstered calls for the management team, including co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, to be replaced.
