The relatively popular cross platform messaging PingChat just got a revamped name and website. The developers, Enflick, have renamed their app Touch and is focusing it on tight group integrations. According to AllThingsD Enflick picked up the http://www.touch.com/ domain name for $100,000 and rebranded the product around it.
Check out the new Touch.com website or check out their intro video below:
As I said before it is going to get worse for RIM before they have a chance to make it better. They just announced today that they will be recording a pre-tax provision in Q3 fiscal 2012 of approximately $485 million, $360 million after tax, related to its inventory valuation of BlackBerry PlayBook tablets. This is mostly not cash which is good and it looks like RIM is doing this to value the PlayBooks based on the new prices they are selling at.
RIM confirms yet again that it has a “high level of BlackBerry PlayBook inventory” and they “believe that an increase in promotional activity is required to drive sell-through.” They clearly note that this is because of competition and the delay in releasing PlayBook OS 2.0. They shipped an estimated 150,000 more PlayBooks into channels and RIM claims more than that were sold to end customers from previous inventory. RIM also confirms its commitment to the PlayBook and QNX.
Then RIM goes on to revise their quarterly outlook (Downward). They shipped ~14.1 million BlackBerry smartphones which falls into line with their last guidance of 13.5-14.5. The thing is they plan on their revenue for Q3 to be slightly lower than the guidance they gave of $5.3 to $5.6 billion due to the PlayBook. RIM is also saying that they no longer expect to meet their full year earnings per share guidance of $5.25-6.00 and they plan on Q4 BlackBerry smartphone sales to be less than Q3.
All of these numbers and estimates are really nothing compared to how much RIM has banking on QNX and BBX phones succeeding. That is really where we want to see more guidance from RIM. They have mentioned that their cash reserves have grown by $80 million to ~1.5 billion and the outage last month cost them a write down of $50 million.
Check out the full announcement below:
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.
The drama surrounding the chaos and kerfuffle from the BlackBerry Bold 9790 launch and discount in Jakarta, Indonesia continues. Ron Ish pointed out an update in The Jakarta Globe indicating that RIM’s chief executive in Indonesia, President Director Andrew Cobham who has since left that post, has been named a suspect in the investigation. They did not arrest Cobham since his negligence only carriers a 9 month maximum jail time. Either way RIM has already made Rohilesh Singh their Indonesian Managing Director as of last month.
Still it is pretty crazy that a discount for the first 1,000 purchasers of BlackBerry Bold 9790 caused such mayhem. So far they have already named the mall’s head of security – Markus; the event organizer – Erwin; and RIM security consultant Terry Burkey on negligence charges. They have also demoted the Poliece Chief Comr. Hando Wibowo for issuing a permit for the event without knowing the size.
The question is how far will this go. I know Indonesia is a huge growth market for RIM so they have quite a bit hanging on their success in the country.
For our readers living up north Rogers has a nice deal going on this week. MobileSyrup noticed a tweet from the Rogers Buzz team linking to a coupon for 65% off select BlackBerry PlayBook accessories. It seems to include all of the accessories except for the BlackBerry Premium Charger.
You can find the coupon here and it expires December 8th. Also worth noting is they have a $20 off a BlackBerry PlayBook coupon but there is a bit of confusion if that is off the $499 or $199 price…
For the past week or so the BlackBerry PlayBook has been selling extremely well at the discounted price of $199. This low price is helping the PlayBook get into the hands of more people, and making the user base not only bigger, but also more diverse. Trying to help a friend buy one, has left me unable to find a 16GB version for sale anywhere online. As a developer this is all candy and rainbows as it means that there are more potential customers to sell apps to. For RIM however, continuing to sell the PlayBook at $199 is not sustainable.
There is no doubt that the bill of materials for the BlackBerry PlayBook is higher then its $199 sale price. Additionally once you consider distribution costs, and some profit for the retailers RIM is losing a significant amount of money on each tablet that is sold. While the idea of positioning a product as a loss leader is not uncommon, there isn’t too much upside for RIM in this case.
To begin with it positions the PlayBook as the equivalent of the Kindle Fire, or the Nook tablet. However, beyond screen size, these devices do not have much in common. The PlayBook has far higher quality hardware, and an easier to use UI. By pricing it at the same costs as these tablets it signals to consumers that the cost of tablets should be based on their screen size. Amazon has kept their bill of materials down by not including cameras, Bluetooth, Bezel controls, and hardware buttons and can break even at a lower price then RIM because of this.
The goal of a loss leader is to make the difference up in other revenue, but there is little chance of RIM doing so with the PlayBook. While RIM does take a 30% cut on all apps that are sold, after you account for credit card fees and the hosting and bandwidth costs of actually providing the store, RIM is not making much money from AppWorld. They are also not getting any revenue from the wireless carriers for the PlayBook. For RIM’s phones they are paid per subscriber for providing BIS/BES services, but because the PlayBook is Wi-Fi only they do not collect any revenue for this. (Is this why the PlayBook still doesn’t support BIS email?)
The only benefit that I can see is that it increases, the number of users on BBX, and therefore increases the benefit to developers on the platform. Hopefully to the point of attracting more and more developers by the launch of BBX phones next year. While there is benefit to RIM in launching their BBX phones with an ecosystem already in place, at some point a company needs their products to generate profits.
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| Thanksgiving Day Theme - Thanksgiving Parade Supported Devices: BlackBerry 8300 BlackBerry 8310 BlackBerry 8320 BlackBerry 8330; 8330m BlackBerry 8800 BlackBerry 8820 BlackBerry 8830 BlackBerry 8900 BlackBerry 9000 BlackBerry 9500 BlackBerry 9520 BlackBerry 9530 BlackBerry 9550 BlackBerry 9630 BlackBerry 9650 BlackBerry 9700 BlackBerry 9780 BlackBerry 9788 BlackBerry 9800 |
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