Troubled Canadian mobile maker Research In Motion (RIM) has lost over a million subscribers in the last quarter, the first drop in user base in the firm’s history. It comes despite RIM posting better than expected revenues of 2.7 billion dollars, sending its shares soaring more than 7 percent. RIM’s first-ever decline in its subscriber base comes with just a month remaining before the crucial launch of the new BB10 smartphone line. RIM reported a loss of 114 million dollars or 22 cents a share, excluding one-time items, in contrast to analysts’ average, who had forecast a loss of 35 cents a share, Fox News reports.
According to the report, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company hopes to reinvent itself and revive its fortunes with the BlackBerry 10. It also reported a surprise net profit in its fiscal third-quarter, reflecting a one-time tax gain from restructuring of its international operations. In the period ended December 1, RIM reported net income of 9 million dollars, or 2 cents a share. That compared with a year-ago profit of 265 million dollars, or 51 cents, the report said. The decline in its subscriber base is a disconcerting marker in the history of RIM, which virtually invented the concept of on-the-go email. In recent years, RIM''s user base has grown, even as the BlackBerry lost ground in North America and Europe, boosted by gains in emerging markets, the report added. -ANI