Lost in the grim news about company profits Thursday afternoon, BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion delivered another blow to its effort to compete with Apple and a bevy of Android manufacturers out there: It turns out that its line of BlackBerry 10 smartphones has been delayed until late next year.
Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said the devices are lacking a chipset that won't be available until midyear, meaning it'll be many months before consumers can get their hands on them – a delay that will only make investors more anxious.
Executives asked for patience on a conference call Thursday, but they may have already asked for too much. Net income dropped more than 70 percent last quarter and revenues were down 6 percent from a year ago. Reviews of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet PC have been dismal and sales haven't been much better.
But not all is lost, the company said. It's actually growing its global customer base, even though it's losing market share to Apple's iPhone and smartphones that operate on Google's Android OS. Analyst Yankee Group recently predicted that RIM would grow its share in the consumer market in 2012 and remain one of the top three smartphone suppliers. Nevertheless, RIM better watch its back. Some industry watchers think the team-up between Microsoft and Nokia will help MSFT's Windows Phone platform surpass BlackBerry by 2015.
