Research In Motion (RIM) shipped 14 million smartphones last year, including a record high 4.4 million in the fourth quarter, the company said Wednesday.
The popular BlackBerry maker said it added about 2.18 million new BlackBerry subscribers in its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended March 1, bringing total subscribers to just over 14 million.
The figures showed BlackBerry is not yet being impacted by credit and economic woes in the U.S. The company's fourth quarter revenue more than doubled compared to a year ago to US$1.88 billion as its net profit soared 120 percent to $412.5 million.
"We did not see any evidence of a slowdown in our enterprise business outside of normal seasonal trends," said Jim Balsillie, co-CEO at RIM, in a conference call.
The results and a rosy outlook from the company sent its shares up 4.7 percent in after-market stock trading to $121.25 per share.
RIM forecast its subscriber numbers will rise by 2.2 million in the current quarter, which ends May 31, and its revenue will rise to between $2.23 billion and $2.30 billion, higher than the quarter reported on Wednesday.
The company's results and outlook paint a far better picture of the mobile phone market than for other companies in the business.
Last month, Sony Ericsson warned it saw slowing market growth for mid-to-high end mobile phone sales in Europe. The company reduced its sales forecast for the first quarter, which ends March 31, to below that of the first quarter last year.
Texas Instruments, the world's second largest maker of mobile phone chips, also last month reduced its sales and net profit forecasts for the first quarter, which ended March 31, saying it saw slower orders for chips used in high-end mobile phones.
The statements stoked fears of a slowdown in mobile phone sales caused by global economic woes.
RIM said it saw the greatest market strength for its handsets in North America.
- Sponsored Resource:Are you ready for virtualization? Try the sever assessment tool.
- Sponsored Resource:Stay at home servers. Learn more about a home server for your family.
- Sponsored Resource:Get the communications, data, and security a business needs in one neat package. Learn more.
- Sponsored Resource:Learn more about ultra light notebooks from Asus and the best warranty in the industry.
- Sponsored Resource:Thinking about a new Laptop? Lenovo has models to meet everyone's needs.
- Sponsored Resource:Get the truth about remanufactured ink. Learn more from HP.
- Sponsored Resource:Six smart ways to grow small business IT
News For Your Business
- DRM-Free ITunes for BlackBerry Users
- Android and Symbian Should Unite, Analyst Says
- Open-network Chief Sees Verizon Following His Lead
- Project CrackBerry
- Five Free BlackBerry Downloads
Community Comments