BlackBerry sales burst ahead


21 Dec 2007

It looks as though the BlackBerry has earned its nickname ‘CrackBerry’ as proof of the addictive nature of the device was shown in the manufacturer’s healthy third-quarter results.

BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion’s (RIM) revenue for the third quarter, coming in at US$1.67bn, more than doubled in comparison to the same quarter last year and was up 22pc on the previous fiscal quarter, while sales of the device itself also doubled.

Doubts about BlackBerry’s market position in the current climate of iPhone fanaticism were washed away as RIM’s shares rose by a staggering 12pc late yesterday following publication on the third-quarter results.

“RIM’s performance in the third quarter was solid with strong adoption of BlackBerry products and services continuing across multiple market sectors, including enterprise, small and medium business and consumer market segments,” said Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO at RIM.

“RIM and its partners continue to execute our business plans effectively. We are pleased to see continuing growth amongst business and government users, with the BlackBerry platform being deployed for a widening range of applications, and we are also pleased with the excellent consumer sales results achieved so far in the holiday buying season.”

The Canadian-headquartered company released the first BlackBerry in 1999 followed by the first phone version in 2001. While the device has been on the market for several years now uptake shows no sign of slowing as 40pc of all BlackBerrys were purchased in the past two years.

By Marie Boran