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Strong Blackberry Sales Continue

Waterloo based Research In Motion reported revenue of $2.78 billion us with earnings of 83 cents per share, or $477 million in total. rim was expected to report earnings of 82 cents per share and revenue of $2.81 billion.

 

Research In Motion (NSDQ: RIMM) was able to hit its adjusted estimates for the third quarter, and the success of the BlackBerry Bold and Storm led to $2.78 billion in revenue.

 

Net income for the quarter was $477.3 million, compared with $370.5 million for the same period last year. The company said it shipped about 6.7 million units, and much of the success can be attributed to two high-profile launches last month.

 
The touch-screen BlackBerry Storm was a direct response to the success of Apple's iPhone 3G, and it was met with mixed reviews. But RIM said the device continues to have strong sales momentum, and Verizon Wireless has had trouble keeping up with demand.

 

"RIM launched an unprecedented number of BlackBerry smartphones in the third quarter, and these new products are being adopted at an even faster pace than we expected," said Jim Balsillie, co-CEO at RIM, in a statement. "Our industry-leading product portfolio is positioned well to capitalize on the increasing market opportunity in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 and beyond."

 

The company added about 2.6 million new subscribers in the quarter, bringing the subscriber base up to about 21 million. RIM has been able to attract more than just the mobile professional, as it said 60% of new subscribers were from nonenterprise accounts. Overall, RIM said the nonenterprise users account for nearly 45% of its entire subscriber base.