Today was a big day for RIM. First, their Q4 and full year numbers were released today. In a word the numbers sucked. Here’s the highlights
- RIM fell short of revenue expectations of US$4.57-billion, reporting just US$4.19-billion in Q4 revenues
- RIM’s earnings per share was in line with expectations a 81¢ US.
- Quarterly smartphone shipments of 11.1 million fell short of expectations of 11.2-million.
- PlayBook tablet sales of more than 500,000 were vastly ahead of even the more bullish analyst expectations of about 350,000.
Oh well. At least PlayBook sales were good. Of course the fact that they were heavily discounted had something to do with that. The full results can be read here [Warning: PDF].
Now here’s the second and third pieces of news. Jim Balsillie who was until recently one of the two CEOs of this company resigned from RIM’s board along with two other executives. Not only that, the company is going to do “strategic review” of their business. That’s code for the company is up for sale.
Consider this to be the beginning of the end for RIM. This company will be sliced, diced, and sold to try and maximize shareholder value.
Bottom line: Time to go buy an iPhone.