In the wake of a first quarter loss in fiscal 2013, management behind Research in Motion (RIM), makers of BlackBerry, is adamant that changes across all areas of the company will be implemented. Among the proposed changes is a reduction of the company’s global workforce by 5000 over the course of the remaining fiscal year.
A release the company’s first quarter results for the three months ended June 02, 2012, indicated that revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 was $2.8 billion, down 33% from $4.2 billion in the previous quarter and down 43% from $4.9 billion in the same quarter of fiscal 2012.
“Our first quarter results reflect the market challenges that I have outlined since my appointment as CEO at the end of January. I am not satisfied with these results and continue to work aggressively with all areas of the organisation and the Board to implement meaningful changes to address the challenges, including a thoughtful realignment of resources and honing focus within the Company on areas that have the greatest opportunities,” said Thorsten Heins, President and CEO.
Several key points were made in the report, including that RIM shipped 7.8 million BlackBerry smartphones and 260,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets.
It was also stated that the launch of the BlackBerry10 platform would take place in the first quarter of 2013.
This was attributed to the need for the company’s software development teams to integrate key features and the associated large volume of code into the platform.
“RIM’s development teams are relentlessly focussed on ensuring the quality and reliability of the platform and I will not compromise the product by delivering it before it is ready. I am confident that the first BlackBerry 10 smartphones will provide a ground-breaking next generation smartphone user experience,” said Heins.
“We are encouraged by the traction that the BlackBerry 10 platform is gaining with application developers and content partners following the successful BlackBerry Jam sessions that we have held around the world since the beginning of May. Similarly, the reception of the BlackBerry 10 platform by our key carrier partners has been very positive and they are looking forward to going to market with BlackBerry 10 smartphones in the first quarter of calendar 2013.”
The restructuring efforts are reportedly underway. The company said that while it will continue to spend and hire in key areas such as those associated with the launch of BlackBerry10, and those tied to the growth of its application developer community, it will reduce its global workforce by 5,000 over the course of the remaining fiscal year.
Asked if there would be any losses to the company’s South African operations, RIM could only confirm the global workforce reduction.
Chris Tredger
