BlackBerry maker RIM troubles have been much publicized in recent times as it continues to lose market share to both Android and the iPhone. The BlackBerry handsets were once the must have accessory for business users that have now switched to rival platforms, and today we are asking if a BlackBerry 10 October release can save RIM?
A couple of days ago the management of the company temporarily froze the shares in RIM, but according to ZDNet trading in the shares resumed on the NASDAQ shortly after. It is thought that the shares were suspended because Chief executive, Thorsten Heins, revealed that the company were likely to suffer an operating loss for the first fiscal quarter, which ends today and so to protect RIM’s market cap.
The news confirmed what many analysts have feared about the company as it sees sales dropping ahead of the BlackBerry 10 release, but some are wondering if the company can hold out that long. We have already told you that the company is reducing its global work force, and it seems the company is running out of ideas as it pins its future hopes on the BlackBerry 10 platform.
RIM themselves has stated that its future stake is resting on the upcoming platform and the next generation of smartphones. It hasn’t all been bad news about the company though as it will have over $2.1 billion in cash reserves, but RIM is continuing to cut costs. Shares have plummeted eighty percent in the last twelve months, and it really needs to get BlackBerry out to consumers now.
It’s a similar situation to what happened with Palm as it had next generation hardware waiting to be released, but was months from getting any product out to consumers and was bought up by HP, and will all know what happened then.
Meanwhile an article on CrackBerry is speculating that BlackBerry 10 should be released on October 10th this year. The fact that RIM is now run by a new management team it would be a great idea to see a coordinated global launch of the new platform. Trouble is you have to wonder if it is already too late for the company and whether it can recover from where it finds itself now. Do you think BlackBerry 10 can save RIM?