RIM surprise analysts with increase in sales

Research In Motion have surprised analysts by reporting an increase in subscriber base and sales. While they have posted another quarterly loss, the company position is not quite as bad as many expected.

The Canadian company are still dropping market share in the North American market as it struggles to compete against Google Android and Apple iOS phones, but they have increased sales in developing markets.

RIM stock jumped by more than 20 percent last night in after market trading.

The company reported they lost $235 million, or 45 cents a share in their second fiscal quarter ending September 1st. This time last year they reported a profit of $419 million. RIM reported revenue of $2.9 billion.

RIM have said they sold 7.4 million Blackberry smartphones in the quarter, which is down from the 10.6 million in the same period a year earlier. This is also not as bad as some analysts predicted – many predicted around 6-6.5 million in the same period.

Chief Executive Thorstein Heins has said that the upcoming smartphones running OS 10 will “will advance the operating system environment to a whole new level.” but many people are still not confident in the future of the company.

Analysts are claiming that while they are increasing sales in developing markets, they will continue to loss sales in developed markets. Their sales outside the USA, UK and Canada were around 58 percent of total revenue.

RIM have been recently firing thousands of staff to help try and offset their losses. Heins said that the RIM cash position is at $2.3 billion, up from $2.2 billion at the end of the previous quarter.

Kitguru says: OS 10 is their future. Will it succeed?

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