 " Facing some tough criticism that RIM’s outlook on revenues and profits seem a bit soft, and with the 3G iPhone coming out soon, the BlackBerry-maker made some pretty bold statements today during its earnings conference call, claiming that its strongest time period is still to come.
Some details from the call:
On the Outlook: In Q2, revenues are expected to fall between $2.55 and $2.65 billion, and net subscriber additions are expected to hit about 2.6 million. Earnings per share for the second quarter are expected to be in the range of $0.84-$0.89 per share diluted. “This will be our strongest second-half ever,” said Jim Balsillie, RIM’s Co-CEO. “It’s a busy time.”
On the BlackBerry Bold: There have been some rumors that there may be delays for the high-end device, which has such features as tri-band HSDPA, Wi-Fi, GPS, one gigabyte of memory, a microSD card slot, a topnotch display and faster processor. The rumors weren’t addressed, but the company said: “As we disclosed in May, it will be available this summer with specific launch dates depending on the various carriers. It’s performing well and meeting all the requirements we have with carriers.”
Investments: The company said they are investing in a lot of areas. It’s launched a TV campaign to increase brand-name recognition, and they have built two new R&D centers, one in Germany and another in Florida. Together, the two have almost 500 employees, but they have the ability to ramp up to 1,000.
On where the market is going: Balsillie: “The market is hollowing out. There’s cheap, cheap, cheap phones and then there’s smartphones connected to a platform.” He said that the game is changing so fast that it’s to time for hyper growth, even if it means sacrificing the company’s margins a bit. “I’m pretty sure we are doing the right thing. Sometimes there’s trade-offs, and sometimes we can’t have our cake and eat it too.”
On the iPhone: An analyst asked, is there much overlap between RIM and Apple’s customer base? Balsillie: “Nah, nah, nah...” via moconews.net |
