NEW
YORK (AP) — Shares of Research in Motion Ltd. popped
Friday after the BlackBerry maker's
results in its fiscal second quarter weren't quite as awful as investors had
feared.
But analysts
cautioned that RIM is
still struggling in the increasingly competitive mobile market.
The Canadian
company posted another large quarterly loss and
its BlackBerry smartphone shipments shrunk 30 percent to 7.4 million in the
quarter ended Sept. 1.
RIM is
losing market share in North America, where Apple's iPhone and phones that run
Google's Android software are increasingly dominant. But it has stepped up
sales in developing markets and actually increased its subscriber base and cash
position.
Its latest
loss came to $235 million, or 45 cents per U.S. share. Revenue totaled $2.9
billion. Analysts polled by FactSet expected worse: A loss of 47 cents on
revenue of $2.49 billion.
But
investors' relief Friday does not imply that all is well for the
once-pioneering smartphone maker. Shares, up 64 cents at $7.78 in late morning
trading Friday, remain a far cry from the company's heyday. The stock fetched
nearly $150 in June 2008.
Yes, RIM
boosted its cash balance, but its core operations are still losing money, said
Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu. And he remains concerned that the company's
upcoming BlackBerry 10 platform will not be able to compete well against
iPhones and Android phones.
The company
said Thursday that the BlackBerry 10 remains on track to be released in the
first quarter of 2013. It is banking its future on the much-delayed upgrade,
meant to offer the multimedia, Internet browsing and apps that users now
demand.
And the
better-than-expected quarter was largely the result of promotions and phone
upgrade programs, which ultimately reduced the average amount of revenue the
company generated from each of its customers, said Jefferies analyst Peter
Misek. That doesn't bode well for the future.
"All
hope is on BlackBerry 10. We won't know success or failure until next
summer," he added.
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