Research In Motion reported a 59% increase in fiscal third-quarter earnings as it added 4.4 million net new BlackBerry accounts.
- Associated Press
The BlackBerry maker’s revenue climbed 11% to $3.92 billion, with 82% coming from device sales. It shipped some 10.1 million devices during the quarter.
RIM said it sees fourth quarter revenue of $4.2 billion to $4.4 billion, and it expects to add 4.4 million to 4.7 million net new subscribers.
Will the company comment on today’s outage, which affected many BlackBerry customers? Highlights from its conference call with analysts start at 5 p.m. ET…
10:01 pm
The call starts, led by Jim Balsillie, co-CEO, and Brian Bidulka, chief accounting officer.
10:03 pm
Over 75 million BlackBerry devices shipped to date, Balsillie says.
10:04 pm
Over 80% of net new subscribers came from non-enterprise customers.
10:06 pm
3Q launches included Storm 2 with Verizon and Vodafone, Bold 9700 and Curve 8530. Bold 9700 has had an "exceptional" response, Balsillie notes.
10:06 pm
About 35% of the subscriber base is now outside North America.
10:08 pm
Shout-outs to Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T, all of which launched BlackBerry devices this quarter.
10:09 pm
Wal-Mart and Best Buy were strong performers on Black Friday, Balsillie says. Wal-Mart offered $100 gift cards with BlackBerry purchases, while Amazon.com also offered aggressive promotions.
10:10 pm
Vodafone marketed the Curve 8520 with the tagline "Tweet your heart out," he says, positioning the device as a social-networking gadget.
10:11 pm
Continued demand for BlackBerry phones in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, he says.
10:13 pm
RIM is also seeing strong results in South Africa, Venezuela, India.
10:16 pm
"China represents a large new market opportunity," Balsillie says. Last week RIM and China Mobile announced plans to offer BlackBerry service and to jointly develop products. Another deal with China Telecom inked today, which will extend RIM devices to its customer base.
10:17 pm
RIM plans to continue pursue tiered pricing opportunities, particularly in North America, Balsillie says.
10:18 pm
Its recent marketing campaign, "Love what you do," which targets consumers instead of businesses, has been successful in increasing brand awareness and prospective customers, he says. It will be expanded in Q4 to Latin America and Asia.
10:22 pm
Bidulka will become RIM's chief financial officer, Balsillie says.
10:23 pm
RIM has also named Keith Pardy its chief marketing officer, he says.
10:26 pm
Sales, marketing and admin expenses grew 8% from the prior quarter to about $465 million, Bidulka says.
10:28 pm
RIM expects to ship 10.6 million to 11.2 million units in 4Q. Expects operating expenses to grow 8% to 9% from Q3, and for R&D to increase 8-9% as well. Sales, marketing and admin expenses to grow 9-10%.
10:31 pm
Q&A starts. RIM declines to break out CDMA versus GSM device sales, and declines to name the top-selling device. Clearly 8520, Bold 9700 and Storm were successful, RIM says.
10:33 pm
"There's a lot of turbulence in the ecosystem right now," Balsillie says of wireless carriers. "There is a lot of turbulence in the channel."
10:33 pm
"I'd like to think that we represent an element of consistency," he says.
10:35 pm
Carriers can shift strategies quickly, he adds, "but at the end of the day, you can't force love."
10:41 pm
Jim Suva at Citi, going back to the "you can't force love" comment, asks Balsillie if he sees Apple or Android providers "trying to date" enterprise customers. Balsillie says there are shifts happening in enterprise but that it maintains a strong competitive position with CIOs and B2B in general.
10:45 pm
"I feel good about China...Asia's kicking in big, Latin Am is kicking in big, and Europe is really, really kicking in big. And North America is still going good," Balsillie says.
10:49 pm
"That's a very good question," he says, regarding bandwidth issues for the carriers. RIM is very efficient with the networks, he says, but he acknowledges that carriers have a challenge providing for high-impact apps.
10:57 pm
Brand marketing has been "fantastic" for RIM, calling the recent campaign "more than a home run," Balsillie says. A lot of aspects of BlackBerry are viral, he says.
11:00 pm
When you go Web or print, you can highlight features more, he adds, and the marketing will evolve through the winter. "We're No. 1, so there must be something there," he says. "But it is a work in progress, not a job done."
11:00 pm
Call ends. No mention of the outage.