BlackBerry 7 and 7.1 OS Achieve FIPS 140-2 Certification

Waterloo, ON – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced that BlackBerry® smartphones running on the powerful new BlackBerry® 7 and BlackBerry® 7.1 Operating Systems (OS) have been awarded FIPS 140-2 certification by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC). FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard) 140-2 is recognized by the U.S. and Canadian governments and is required under the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA).

BlackBerry 7 Smartphones Certified for U.S. and Canadian Governments is a post from: RIMarkable, the Unofficial BlackBerry Weblog...

As bleak as the story is for Research in Motion in North America, primarily the United States, folks around the world are still fond of the BlackBerry.  This is definitely the case in the United Kingdom where, for the second year in a row, the BlackBerry is the most popular smartphone on the market.

Press Release

The latest results from data firm GfK show that BlackBerry® was the #1 selling smartphone in the British market for the second year running. It continues to dominate the market, grabbing 26.3% of December sales and averaging 27.7% through 2011.

The BlackBerry® global subscriber base grew 35% year on year in December to 75 million. The UK customer base is going from strength to strength with over eight and a half million active subscribers by the end of 2011.

BlackBerry® launched its latest operating system, BlackBerry® 7, in August 2011 introducing a portfolio of stylish new smartphones including the BlackBerry Bold 9900, Bold 9790, Torch 9860, Torch 9810, Curve 9380 and Curve 9360.

The update to BlackBerry® 7.1, announced earlier this month, will be rolled out in the coming months. This software update builds on the strengths of BlackBerry 7 to further enhance the mobile experience on BlackBerry®. It includes BlackBerry® Tag, the latest innovation in Near Field Communication (NFC), which allows users to share contacts, photos and files by tapping their devices together. Friends can be added to BBM, contact information exchanged, documents shared as well as multimedia content, all in an instant. Another key feature of 7.1 is that you can now turn your BlackBerry into a mobile hotspot that can be shared by up to 5 Wi-Fi®-enabled devices, including laptops and tablets such as the BlackBerry PlayBook.

PlayBook 2.0 was announced at this year’s CES show and will be available in February. The new software will allow customers to stay even more connected and productive in their personal and professional lives. Key features include native email with integrated social network messaging capabilities. Updates from popular social networking sites such as Twitter® and LinkedIn® will all appear in the integrated inbox. It also brings a wealth of apps with thousands more to choose from across gaming and lifestyle to business and productivity including Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, Groupon, Thomson Reuters, Zinio and many more.

[Via Tracy and Matt]

The BlackBerry is the Number One Selling Smartphone in the UK… Again… is a post from: RIMarkable, the Unofficial BlackBerry Weblog...

Waterloo, ON – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced general availability of BlackBerry® Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365 – a new service for business and government organizations that extends Microsoft Exchange Online to BlackBerry® smartphones and allows customers to manage their BlackBerry deployments in the cloud. The service is available at no additional charge to current medium-sized or enterprise subscribers of the Office 365 suite or standalone Exchange Online and works with BlackBerry smartphones on business or consumer data plans.

“RIM is pleased to launch BlackBerry Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365. This new cloud-based option allows customers to cost-effectively support mobility across their organizations and easily manage and secure their BlackBerry deployments,” said Alan Panezic, Vice President, Enterprise Product Management and Marketing at Research In Motion. “We continue to build upon the end-to-end BlackBerry solution for our business and government customers with both on-premise and cloud-based solutions, a range of technical support options to suit any size organization, and a growing ecosystem of apps and services for users.”

“Microsoft’s partnership with RIM exemplifies our commitment to providing customers with the best productivity experience across the PC, browser and phone,” said Julia White, Senior Director of Microsoft’s Exchange Product Management Group. “The availability of BlackBerry Business Cloud Services is great news for Office 365 and BlackBerry customers who want to get the maximum benefit from these two business collaboration services.”

BlackBerry Business Cloud Services offers advanced administration and flexible smartphone self-service features to support an organization’s BlackBerry deployment in the cloud. Key features include:

• Wireless synchronization with Microsoft Exchange Online email, calendar and organizer data from a BlackBerry smartphone
• BlackBerry® Balance™ technology, which presents a unified view of work and personal content on a BlackBerry smartphone while keeping the content separate and secure
• An intuitive web-based console for IT administrators to provision, manage and secure BlackBerry smartphones from anywhere
• Online access to employee self-service smartphone security functions, allowing users to easily reset a device password or remotely lock or wipe a device in the event of loss or theft

Managed service providers, systems integrators, carriers, resellers and other partners can also use the cloud service to manage BlackBerry deployments on behalf of their customers.

The service is available today in over 50 countries. Customers can go to www.blackberry.com/cloudservices to get started.

RIM Launches BlackBerry Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365 is a post from: RIMarkable, the Unofficial BlackBerry Weblog...

Waterloo, ON – The Board of Directors of BlackBerry® maker Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced that, acting on the recommendation of its Co-Chief Executive Officers to implement the succession plan they previously submitted to the Board, it has unanimously named Thorsten Heins as President and Chief Executive Officer.  Mr. Heins was also appointed to RIM’s Board. The Board acted after conducting its own due diligence. Both appointments are effective immediately.

Mike Lazaridis, former Co-Chair and Co-CEO, has become Vice Chair of RIM’s Board and Chair of the Board’s new Innovation Committee. As Vice Chair, he will work closely with Mr. Heins to offer strategic counsel, provide a smooth transition and continue to promote the BlackBerry brand worldwide.

Mr. Heins said he looks forward to continuing to work with Mr. Lazaridis, globally recognized as a technology pioneer. He said, “Mike created a whole new way of communicating and I look forward to continuing our close collaboration.”

On the transition to CEO by Mr. Heins, Mr. Lazaridis said, “There comes a time in the growth of every successful company when the founders recognize the need to pass the baton to new leadership. Jim and I went to the Board and told them that we thought that time was now.  With BlackBerry 7 now out, PlayBook 2.0 shipping in February and BlackBerry 10 expected to ship later this year, the company is entering a new phase, and we felt it was time for a new leader to take it through that phase and beyond.  Jim, the Board and I all agreed that leader should be Thorsten Heins.”

Jim Balsillie remains a member of the Board. “I agree this is the right time to pass the baton to new leadership, and I have complete confidence in Thorsten, the management team and the company,” he said. “I remain a significant shareholder and a Director and, of course, they will have my full support.”

Mr. Lazaridis said that he decided to move from Co-Chair to Vice Chair of the Board in order to return the public’s focus to what is most important: “the great company we have built, its iconic products, global brand and its talented employees.”

Mr. Lazaridis added, “Thorsten has demonstrated throughout his tenure at RIM that he has the right mix of leadership, relevant industry experience and skills to take the company forward.  We have been impressed with his operational skills at both RIM and Siemens.  I am so confident in RIM’s future that I intend to purchase an additional $50 million of the company’s shares, as permitted, in the open market.”

Mr. Heins said he believes that RIM has tremendous potential.  He joined RIM from Siemens Communications Group in December 2007 as Senior Vice President for Hardware Engineering and became Chief Operating Officer for Product and Sales in August 2011.

“Mike and Jim took a bold step 18 months ago when RIM purchased QNX to shepherd the transformation of the BlackBerry platform for the next decade,” Mr. Heins said.  “We are more confident than ever that was the right path. It is Mike and Jim’s continued unwillingness to sacrifice long-term value for short-term gain which has made RIM the great company that it is today.  I share that philosophy and am very excited about the company’s future.”

Mr. Heins said that RIM has a strong foundation on which to build. “We have a strong balance sheet with approximately $1.5 billion in cash at the end of the last quarter and negligible debt.  We reported revenue of $5.2 billion in our last quarter, up 24% from the prior quarter, and a 35% year-to-year increase in the BlackBerry subscriber base, which is now over 75 million.”

Mr. Heins said, “BlackBerry 7 has been well received.  We are very excited about PlayBook 2.0 and BlackBerry 10.  The reception of our products at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show was encouraging.”

He continued, “RIM earned its reputation by focusing relentlessly on the customer and delivering unique mobile communications solutions. We intend to build on this heritage to expand BlackBerry’s leadership position.”

Mr. Heins said that RIM has grown quickly. “As with any company that has grown as fast as we have, there have been inevitable growing pains,” he said. “We have learned from those challenges and, I believe, we have and will become a stronger company as a result.

“Going forward, we will continue to focus both on short-term and long-term growth, strategic planning, a customer- and market-based product approach, and flawless execution. We are in the process of recruiting a new Chief Marketing Officer to work closely with our product and sales teams to deliver the most compelling products and services.”

Barbara Stymiest, who formerly served as a member of Royal Bank of Canada’s Group Executive and has been a member of RIM’s Board since 2007, has been named the independent Board Chair. John Richardson, formerly Lead Director, will remain on the Board.  Prem Watsa, Chief Executive Officer of Fairfax Financial Holdings, also was named to the Board, expanding it to 11 members.

Speaking on behalf of the Board, Ms. Stymiest said:  “We believe that Thorsten is the right executive to succeed Mike and Jim.  He has 27 years of telecommunications experience, including four years at RIM in senior management positions.  As a Board, we have been impressed with his outstanding management skills, his leadership and his accomplishments within the company.”

Ms. Stymiest also expressed the Board’s respect and admiration for Messrs. Lazaridis and Balsillie, the company they built, and the steps they have taken to position RIM for the future.

“They created RIM, nurtured it, and in the process not only built an iconic brand, but literally pioneered the smartphone industry,” she said.  “It is Canada’s largest tech company and one of the largest in the world.”

Conference Call and Webcast
A conference call and live webcast will be held beginning at 8 am ET, January 23, 2012, which can be accessed by dialing 1-800-814-4859 (North America), (+1)416-644-3414 (outside North America) or through your personal computer or BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet at www.rim.com/investors/events/index.shtml. A replay of the conference call will also be available at approximately 10 am ET by dialing (+1)416-640-1917 and entering passcode 4509630#. A replay of the webcast will be available on your personal computer or BlackBerry PlayBook tablet by clicking the link above. This replay will be available until midnight ET, February 6, 2012.

About Thorsten Heins
Thorsten Heins, 54, is a respected business leader with 27 years of broad experience and expertise in wireless networks and consumer electronics devices. Mr. Heins has a global reputation for his organizational and leadership skills and his ability to build successful organizations that deliver on their commitments. Prior to today’s announcement, Mr. Heins was one of RIM’s two Chief Operating Officers and, before that, Senior Vice President for the Handheld Business Unit.  He played key roles in the creation of RIM’s product portfolio. Mr. Heins came to RIM in December 2007 from the industrial conglomerate Siemens AG.  He joined Siemens in 1984 after graduating from the University of Hannover in his native Germany.  At Siemens, Mr. Heins rose through the ranks of R&D customer service, sales and product management positions.  After serving as Chief Executive Officer of various business divisions in the communication business, Mr. Heins moved to Chief Technology Officer and member of the Group Board of the Siemens Communications Group. He came to RIM after being impressed by the level of innovation displayed by founders Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie. Mr. Heins is married with a daughter and a son. Away from RIM, he is usually outdoors bicycling, motorcycling, skiing or hiking.

About Barbara Stymiest
Barbara Stymiest has served as a director of RIM since March 2007.  She has an HBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario, and an FCA from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario.  Ms. Stymiest joined Royal Bank of Canada in 2004, where she served as a member of RBC’s Group Executive, which is responsible for the overall strategic direction of the company.  Prior to that, she held positions as Chief Executive Officer at TSX Group Inc., Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer at BMO Nesbitt Burns and Partner of Ernst & Young LLP.  Ms. Stymiest is currently a Director of George Weston Limited, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, the Royal Ontario Museum.

About Prem Watsa
Prem Watsa is the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Chief Executive Officer of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, a financial services holding company whose corporate objective is to achieve a high rate of return on invested capital and build long-term shareholder value, since 1985. He is also Vice President of Hamblin Watsa Investment Counsel Ltd. since 1985. Mr. Watsa formerly served as Vice President of GW Asset Management from 1983 to 1984 and in various positions, ultimately as a Vice President, with Confederation Life Investment Counsel from 1974 to 1983.

About Research In Motion
Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry® solution in 1999. Today, BlackBerry products and services are used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that matter most throughout their day. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. RIM is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.RIM.com or www.BlackBerry.com.

Press Release: Research In Motion Names Thorsten Heins President and CEO is a post from: RIMarkable, the Unofficial BlackBerry Weblog...

Research in Motion issued a press release last week announcing the availability of 5 new BlackBerry 7 devices in the Philippines.

New devices include:

• BlackBerry Bold 9790
• BlackBerry Curve 9380
• BlackBerry Torch 9810
• BlackBerry Torch 9860
• White BlackBerry Bold 9900

Check out the full press release after the break…

Press Release

BlackBerry Bold 9790, BlackBerry Curve 9380, BlackBerry Torch 9810, BlackBerry Torch 9860 and Pure White BlackBerry Bold 9900 available in stores January 13

Manila, the Philippines - Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced the launch of five new BlackBerry® smartphone models based on the BlackBerry® 7 Operating System (OS) in the Philippines. The latest additions to the BlackBerry 7 product lineup are BlackBerry® Bold™ 9790, BlackBerry® Curve™ 9380, BlackBerry® Torch™ 9810, BlackBerry® Torch™ 9860 and BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 in Pure White. The five new smartphone models are expected to be available from carriers and authorized retail channels in the Philippines on January 13.

“The new BlackBerry 7 based smartphones offer customers a truly outstanding mix of communications, multimedia, productivity and social connectivity features,” said Hastings Singh, Vice President, South Asia at RIM. “We are excited to expand the BlackBerry 7 portfolio with the launch of five new models, providing Philippine customers with a broader selection of handsets to match their lifestyle.”

BlackBerry Bold 9790 with Touch Display and Keyboard
True to the BlackBerry Bold brand, the new BlackBerry Bold 9790 smartphone is powerful, full-featured and built with premium materials and finishes. It combines a high-resolution and highly responsive touch display with a highly tactile keyboard and a precise optical trackpad, but comes in a narrow design that is easy to carry and exceptionally comfortable to hold.  With the BlackBerry 7 OS and powerful 1 GHz processor, the BlackBerry Bold 9790 delivers fast, smooth performance for browsing the web, running apps, working with documents, and enjoying multimedia. It includes 8GB of onboard memory and an expandable memory card slot that supports up to 32 GB of additional storage.

All-Touch BlackBerry Curve 9380
The finely crafted BlackBerry Curve 9380 is the first touch screen smartphone in the BlackBerry Curve family. It features a highly responsive and brilliant 3.2” high resolution display and comes with preinstalled social networking apps, including BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger), Facebook®, Twitter™ and Social Feeds apps, that offer a fun, easy and smoothly integrated mobile experience. This compact and stylish handset also features a 5MP camera with flash and video recording, allowing users to easily capture and share their favorite moments with family, friends and colleagues.

BlackBerry Torch 9810 with Touch Display and Slide-Out Keyboard
Building on the popular design of the BlackBerry Torch 9800, the new BlackBerry Torch 9810 is faster and more fluid with high performance hardware features and the new BlackBerry 7 OS delivering an enhanced multimedia experience. Featuring a large 3.2”, high resolution touch display and a distinctive BlackBerry keyboard that easily slides out to allow faster typing, the BlackBerry Torch 9810 truly delivers the best of both worlds.

All-Touch BlackBerry Torch 9860
The BlackBerry Torch 9860 smartphone offers the fast, fluid BlackBerry 7 experience in a stylish all-touch design. With a spectacular 3.7” display, the largest ever on a BlackBerry smartphone, the new all-touch BlackBerry Torch 9860 smartphone is optimized for displaying web pages, photos, videos, and powerful gaming experiences. It also delivers the highly refined, real-time communication and collaboration experience loved by millions of BlackBerry smartphone users around the world.

BlackBerry Bold 9900 Smartphone in Pure White
The premium BlackBerry Bold 9900 smartphone is now available in Pure White. The BlackBerry Bold 9900 is the thinnest BlackBerry smartphone yet at only 10.5mm. It offers the perfect union of a high performance keyboard and touch display integrated within the iconic BlackBerry Bold design. Distinguished by its beautiful design, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 is crafted with premium materials including a brushed stainless steel frame that puts the finishing touch on a truly outstanding smartphone.

Powerful BlackBerry 7 OS
All five new devices are powered by the BlackBerry 7 OS, which delivers a faster and richer user experience with improved browsing, voice-activated searches and support for Augmented Reality. BlackBerry 7 offers the ability to manage personal content separately from corporate content, and comes with a variety of personal and productivity apps out of the box. The BlackBerry Bold 9790, BlackBerry Curve 9380 and BlackBerry Bold 9900 also include support for NFC (Near Field Communications).

For more information, please visit ph.blackberry.com or www.facebook.com/BlackBerryPH

RIM Launches Five New BlackBerry 7 Smartphones in the Philippines is a post from: RIMarkable, the Unofficial BlackBerry Weblog...

Research in Motion is at CES 2012, and, although the company has delayed BlackBerry 10 smartphones until late this year, plans for the BlackBerry PlayBook seem to be on track.

RIM has recently issued a press release stating that BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 will be previewed at CES 2012 and that it is still on track for a February release…

RIM Previews BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 at CES

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA–(Marketwire – Jan. 9, 2012) – (CES 2012) – This week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) will be previewing new features of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 that will enable customers to stay even more connected and productive in their personal and professional lives.

“BlackBerry PlayBook is already recognized for delivering powerful performance, true multi-tasking, advanced web browsing and HD multimedia in an ultra-portable design,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion. “With BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 we are building on this strong foundation, as well as leveraging our strengths in communications, social integration and productivity, to allow people to use their BlackBerry PlayBook in new ways throughout the day.”

CES 2012 attendees who visit the BlackBerry booth at CES (South Hall 3 Booth # 30326) will get a sneak peek of upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 functionality including:
Advanced Messaging Experience:

• New unified inbox - a powerful unified inbox within the built-in messaging app allows users to quickly manage their personal email and work email accounts as well as the messaging capabilities of popular social networking sites like Twitter®, LinkedIn® and others – all in one place.
• Multi-tasking within email - by extending the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet’s multitasking capabilities to ‘tabbed email’, users are able to reference one email while they compose another.
• Rich-text email composing and editing - new features within the Messages app enable users to benefit from full support of fonts, formatting and editing of email threads, offering a robust email experience similar to that of a PC or laptop.
• Inbox management tools - allows for powerful inbox search across multiple email accounts, as well as the ability to set out-of-office messages and email signatures directly from their tablet.

Deep Integration of Social Relationships:

• Innovative people-centric calendar - in addition to standard calendar features that help users plan and organize their day, the powerful built-in Calendar app provides the unique ability for users to view their calendar by who they are meeting with that day and review valuable information about that contact. Information is consolidated automatically from social networking sites about that contact and/or their company.
• Relationship-centric contacts app - more than just an address book, the new built-in Contacts app serves as a social hub – merging and consolidating information from multiple sources (including email and social channels) into one contact file for each person in their address book. Each contact file includes information such as recent status updates, conversations, related news articles and mutual contacts that are kept up-to-date automatically.

Making Your BlackBerry Smartphone and Tablet a Powerful Pair:

• Remote control for the BlackBerry PlayBook - new BlackBerry Bridge features allow a user’s BlackBerry smartphone to act as a keyboard and mouse for their BlackBerry PlayBook – effectively providing a wireless remote control for their tablet. Perfect for pausing a movie when a BlackBerry PlayBook is plugged in to a TV with an HDMI connection, or for using the tactile QWERTY keyboard on a BlackBerry smartphone to compose a message or document on the BlackBerry PlayBook.
• Opening content on the BlackBerry PlayBook - BlackBerry Bridge allows you to take documents, emails, multimedia files and web pages found on your smartphone and open them quickly and directly on the BlackBerry PlayBook so you can use the larger high resolution display for an optimized viewing and editing experience.

Improved Mobile Productivity:

• Updated document editing capabilities - updated Documents To Go® functionality makes it easier for users to create and edit documents while on the go. Improvements include: enhanced support for the virtual keyboard, the ability to view and update embedded charts and chart sheets within spreadsheets, a new formula wizard with over 100 functions as well as the ability to edit presentations including text, bullets and formatting.
• Print To Go application - this app allows users to wirelessly “print” from their laptop or PC directly to their BlackBerry PlayBook over Wi-Fi®. A digital printout is created on the BlackBerry PlayBook so that users can view, sort and manage their digital printouts as though they were physical sheets of paper. The Print To Go app is the perfect way to consolidate info from various related sources like a hotel web confirmation, an airline boarding pass email, the show event schedule or even a map of the destination city and make them available for quick access on the go.
• Increased control and manageability of corporate data - the combination of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 with BlackBerry Mobile Fusion and BlackBerry Balance will help to overcome many barriers to widespread tablet deployment, including device manageability and the ability to secure, manage and control confidential corporate information on the device. Plus BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 supports dedicated shelf space inside the BlackBerry App World storefront to allow IT departments to control distribution of enterprise applications and to make those approved enterprise applications easily available to the organization’s end users.

New Apps and Content:

• Your favorite apps plus thousands more - many exciting new applications built for the BlackBerry PlayBook will be made available on BlackBerry App World with the availability of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0. From gaming and lifestyle to business and productivity, RIM is showcasing some of the latest apps available for the BlackBerry PlayBook at CES 2012 including Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, Groupon, Thomson Reuters, Zinio and many more.
• Video store - a catalog of thousands of movies and TV shows will be available through the integrated BlackBerry Video Storefront* with new releases to be made available for purchase or rent the same day they come out on DVD. Users will be able to begin watching media as soon as they start to download the file, so users won’t have to wait for the entire file to transfer before they can enjoy great entertainment on the tablet’s high resolution display, or on an HDTV via the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet’s HDMI output.
• Enhanced web browsing - the BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 browser also includes a new reading view, which is designed to make web sites even easier to enjoy by eliminating page clutter at the touch of a button. What’s left is a cleaner format that is great for reading online news articles, blog posts, or websites that contain heavy amounts of text.

Availability

The BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 software update will be available as a free download for all BlackBerry PlayBook users and is expected to be available in February 2012.

• BlackBerry Video Store will initially be available in the United States. Support for other countries is expected to be added later this year.

Research in Motion Previews BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 at CES 2012 is a post from: RIMarkable, the Unofficial BlackBerry Weblog...

Press Release

WATERLOO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – Dec. 15, 2011) – Research In Motion Limited (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM), a world leader in the mobile communications market, today reported third quarter results for the three months ended November 26, 2011 (all figures in U.S. dollars and U.S. GAAP, except where otherwise indicated).

Highlights:

• Revenue of $5.2 billion, up 24% from last quarter
• BlackBerry smartphone shipments of 14.1 million, up 33% from Q2
• GAAP net income of $265 million or $0.51 per share diluted; adjusted net income of $667 million or $1.27 per share diluted
• Subscribers up 35% year-over-year to almost 75 million
• Cash flow from operations of approximately $895 million
• Total of cash, cash equivalents, short-term and long-term investments of $1.5 billion

Q3 Results:

Revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 was $5.2 billion, up 24% from $4.2 billion in the previous quarter and down 6% from $5.5 billion in the same quarter of last year. The revenue breakdown for the quarter was approximately 79% for hardware, 19% for service and 2% for software and other revenue. During the quarter, RIM shipped approximately 14.1 million BlackBerry smartphones and approximately 150,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets.

“Despite the challenges faced in the third quarter, the BlackBerry subscriber base grew to almost 75 million customers around the world. In addition, RIM launched a range of new BlackBerry 7 based smartphones globally and introduced holiday promotions that helped drive growth in the installed base of BlackBerry PlayBook users,” said Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, Co-CEOs at Research In Motion. “RIM continues to have strong technology, unique service capabilities and a large installed base of customers, and we are more determined than ever to capitalize on our strengths to overcome the recent execution challenges surrounding product launches and the resulting financial performance. As part of our commitment to improving our performance to better meet the expectations of shareholders and customers, we continue to evaluate ways to improve in several areas of the Company’s operations. It may take some time to realize the benefits of these efforts and the platform transition that we are undertaking, but we continue to believe that RIM has the right set of strengths and capabilities to maintain a leading role in the mobile communications industry.”

The Company’s GAAP net income for the quarter was $265 million, or $0.51 per share diluted, compared with GAAP net income of $329 million, or $0.63 per share diluted, in the prior quarter and GAAP net income of $911 million, or $1.74 per share diluted, in the same quarter last year. Adjusted net income for the third quarter was $667 million, or $1.27 per share diluted. Adjusted net income and adjusted diluted earnings per share exclude the impact of pre-tax charges of $54 million ($40 million after tax) to revenue related to the service interruption experienced in the third quarter, $485 million ($356 million after tax) for the PlayBook inventory provision taken in the third quarter and $7 million ($6 million after tax) for the Company’s cost optimization program that was implemented in the second quarter of fiscal 2012.

Q4 Outlook

Revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 ending March 3, 2012 is expected to be in the range of $4.6-$4.9 billion. Gross margin percentage for the fourth quarter is expected to be approximately 38%. BlackBerry smartphone shipments are expected to be between 11 million and 12 million units. Earnings per share for the fourth quarter is expected to be in the range of $0.80-$0.95.

Research In Motion Reports Third Quarter Fiscal 2012 Results is a post from: RIMarkable, the Unofficial BlackBerry Weblog...

Press Release

Research In Motion Announces Third Quarter Provision Related To PlayBook Inventory and Confirms Commitment to Tablet Market; Provides Update to Q3 and Fiscal 2012 Guidance

Waterloo, ON - Research In Motion Limited (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM), a world leader in the mobile communications market, today announced that it would record a pre-tax provision in the third quarter of fiscal 2012 of approximately $485 million, $360 million after tax, related to its inventory valuation of BlackBerry PlayBook tablets.  The charge is expected to be predominantly non-cash.  All figures in this release are in U.S. Dollars and U.S. GAAP, except where otherwise indicated.

As previously disclosed, RIM has a high level of BlackBerry PlayBook inventory.  The Company now believes that an increase in promotional activity is required to drive sell-through to end customers.  This is due to several factors, including recent shifts in the competitive dynamics of the tablet market and a delay in the release of the PlayBook OS 2.0 software.  As a result, RIM will record a provision that reflects the current market environment and allows it to expand upon the aggressive level of promotional activity recently employed by the Company in order to drive PlayBook adoption around the world.

Based on the positive response to the promotions that are underway in select markets, RIM believes this strategy will accelerate adoption of its QNX-based platform by consumers and enterprises, as well as help to drive the development of a vibrant application ecosystem in advance of its next generation BlackBerry smartphones.  RIM sold into the channels approximately 150,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets in the third quarter and sell-through to end customers, based on RIM’s internal data, was higher than this amount.  Since the launch of the new promotions across consumer and enterprise channels in the United States and Canada late in the third quarter, the Company has seen a significant increase in demand for the PlayBook.  Both consumer and enterprise customers who purchase a new BlackBerry PlayBook at the current promotional pricing, along with existing PlayBook customers, will be able to upgrade to the enhanced PlayBook OS 2.0 software at no additional charge when it becomes available in February 2012.

“RIM is committed to the BlackBerry PlayBook and believes the tablet market is still in its infancy. Although a number of factors have led to the need for an inventory provision in the third quarter, we believe the PlayBook, which will be further enhanced with the upcoming PlayBook OS 2.0 software, is a compelling tablet for consumers that also offers unique security and manageability features for the enterprise,” said Mike Lazaridis, Co-CEO at Research In Motion. “Early results from recent PlayBook promotions indicate a significant increase in demand across most channels.  We look forward to continuing to grow the installed base of PlayBook users and to attracting more and more developers to expand the volume of applications, content and services that leverage the power of the industry leading QNX-based platform.”

Updated Third Quarter Fiscal 2012 Guidance and Outlook

While the Company is still in the process of finalizing its third quarter financial results, the Company shipped approximately 14.1 million BlackBerry smartphones in the third quarter ended November 26, 2011 which was in line with previous guidance of between 13.5-14.5 million.  Adjusted revenue in the third quarter, excluding a charge against revenue of approximately $50 million related to the service outage that occurred in the quarter, is expected to be slightly lower than the previously guided range of $5.3-5.6 billion, reflecting product mix and the impact of PlayBook sell-through programs in the quarter.   Gross margin is expected to be in line with previous guidance of approximately 37%.  Excluding the PlayBook provision and the outage related impact described above, RIM expects adjusted diluted earnings per share in the third quarter to be at the low to mid point of the $1.20-$1.40 per share range it previously guided.  The Company’s cash balance at the end of the quarter increased by approximately $80 million to approximately $1.5 billion.  The Company is still in the process of finalizing its fourth quarter outlook, and based on preliminary estimates, RIM expects unit shipments in the fourth quarter to be below third quarter levels.  The lower expected shipments in the fourth quarter are due to several factors including lower than expected sell-through in the third quarter and RIM’s current view of fourth quarter demand.  The Company no longer expects to meet its full year adjusted diluted earnings per share guidance of $5.25-6.00.

Note: Adjusted diluted earnings per share and adjusted revenue do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by GAAP and thus are not comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other issuers.  The Company believes that the use of adjusted diluted earnings per share and adjusted revenue enables the Company and its shareholders to better assess RIM’s operating results relative to its operating results in prior periods and improves the comparability of the information presented.  Investors should consider RIM’s use of non-GAAP financial measures in the context of RIM’s GAAP results.  A reconciliation of adjusted diluted earnings per share and adjusted revenue to GAAP diluted earnings per share and GAAP revenue will be included when RIM releases its financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 on December 15, 2011.

Q3 Results Conference Call Details

RIM will be reporting results for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 on December 15, 2011 after the close of the market. The Company will discuss today’s announcement, third quarter fiscal 2012 results, and the outlook for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 on a conference call and live webcast beginning at 5 pm ET, December 15, 2011.  The call can be accessed by dialing 1-800-814-4859 or at www.rim.com/investors/events/index.shtml.  A replay of the conference call will also be available at approximately 7 pm by dialing 1-416-640-1917 and entering passcode 4466493#.  A replay of the webcast will be available clicking the link above. The replay will be available until midnight ET December 29, 2011.  The conference call will also appear on the RIM website live at 5 pm ET and will be archived at http://www.rim.com/investors/events/index.shtml.

RIM Announces Third Quarter Provision Related To PlayBook Inventory; Provides Update to Q3 and Fiscal 2012 Guidance is a post from: RIMarkable, the Unofficial BlackBerry Weblog...

Press Release

RIM Announces BlackBerry Mobile Fusion – The Next Generation Enterprise Mobility Solution for BlackBerry, Android and iOS Smartphones and Tablets

Simplifies Management of Smartphones and Tablets for Business and Government

Waterloo, ON – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today introduced BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion – the Company’s next-generation enterprise mobility solution and RIM’s entry into the multi-platform Mobile Device Management (MDM) marketplace. Building on years of leading enterprise mobility management solutions from RIM, BlackBerry Mobile Fusion will simplify the management of smartphones and tablets running BlackBerry®, Google® Android® and Apple® iOS® operating systems.

“We are pleased to introduce BlackBerry Mobile Fusion – RIM’s next generation enterprise mobility solution – to make it easier for our business and government customers to manage the diversity of devices in their operations today,” said Alan Panezic, Vice President, Enterprise Product Management and Marketing at Research In Motion. “BlackBerry Mobile Fusion brings together our industry-leading BlackBerry Enterprise Server technology for BlackBerry devices with mobile device management capabilities for iOS and Android devices, all managed from one web-based console. It provides the necessary management capabilities to allow IT departments to confidently oversee the use of both company-owned and employee-owned mobile devices within their organizations.”

RIM is the leading provider of enterprise mobility solutions with over 90 percent of the Fortune 500 provisioning BlackBerry devices today. The enterprise market for smartphones and tablets continues to grow in both the company-provisioned and employee-owned (Bring Your Own Device or BYOD) categories. BYOD in particular has led to an increase in the diversity of mobile devices in use in the enterprise and new challenges for CIOs and IT departments as they struggle to manage and control wireless access to confidential company information on the corporate network. This has resulted in increased demand for mobile device management solutions.

BlackBerry Mobile Fusion brings together the market-leading BlackBerry® Enterprise Server (version 5.0.3) for BlackBerry smartphones; new management capabilities for BlackBerry PlayBook tablets built on BlackBerry Enterprise Server technology; and mobile device management for smartphones and tablets running Android and iOS operating systems.

BlackBerry Mobile Fusion will provide the following mobile device management capabilities for all supported mobile devices*:

• Asset management
• Configuration management
• Security and policy definition and management
• Secure and protect lost or stolen devices (remote lock, wipe)
• User- and group-based administration
• Multiple device per user capable
• Application and software management
• Connectivity management (Wi-Fi®, VPN, certificate)
• Centralized console
• High scalability

BlackBerry smartphones will continue to benefit from the many advantages of the end-to-end BlackBerry solution including the same advanced IT management, security and control available with BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0.3, which is part of BlackBerry Mobile Fusion. These advanced features include BlackBerry® Balance™ technology supporting the use of a single device for both work and personal purposes without compromising the organization’s need to secure, manage and control confidential information; over 500 IT policies; over-the-air app and software installation and management; high availability; and much more. BlackBerry Mobile Fusion will also introduce new self-service functionality for employees to secure lost or stolen BlackBerry smartphones and BlackBerry PlayBook tablets.

BlackBerry Mobile Fusion is currently in early beta testing with select enterprise customers. RIM is now accepting customer nominations for the closed beta program which will start in January, and general availability is expected in late March.

For more information, visit www.blackberry.com/mobilefusion.

* Device security, manageability and controls will continue to vary according to the inherent capabilities of the individual device operating systems.

RIM Announces BlackBerry Mobile Fusion – The Next Generation Enterprise Mobility Solution for BlackBerry, Android and iOS Smartphones and Tablets is a post from: RIMarkable, the Unofficial BlackBerry Weblog...