RIM has a tough road ahead

RIM has a tough road ahead. RIM shares had doubled in recent months as investors gain confidence in the Canadian Blackberry maker and their in new Blackberry 10 devices up for release at the end of January.

Blackberry 10 has been recently FIPS certified as secure devices for US government communications and despite some major enterprise clients dropping a ball, RIM keeps pushing and hoping for much deserved revival. Last month RIM had given away some 7500 Blackberry 10 Dev Alpha C devices for developers of apps needed for a successful launch.

Road is not paved for RIM in the coming years. RIM relies heavily on service revenue, which accounts for some 30 percent of their receivables. These are services fees charged for using of their network. After news of discussions of Thorsten Heins, RIM’s CEO, with analysts and investors yesterday about new service revenue model surfaced, RIM’s stocks dipped by 9 percent to $12.85 per share.

RIM has about 79 million subscribers having lost about a mil before December 1st. In third quarter RIM showed $9 million gain, which is positive, especially when you look at Nokia losses, or HTC’s troubled revenues. It does not however compare to 2011 Q3 earnings of $265 million. RIM had shipped 6.9 million smartphones in Q3, which is down from 7.4 million in Q2, but Blackberry PlayBook tablet shipments almost doubled in the same time period. From 130,000 tablets shipped in Q2, RIM managed to ship 255,000 PlayBooks in Q3.

RIM had lost about 22 cents a share, but projections were much gloomier. Thomson Reuters projection for the same tim showed 35 cents loss. Thorsten Heins talking to investors said,

“We believe the company has stabilized and will turn the corner next year.”

Blackberry 10 devices are also being tested with some 150 companies out of which 64 are of Fortune 500. Tough times are ahead for the canadian smartphone maker, but RIM is in a good position, given conservative management and fast takeoff of new Blackberry 10 devices, to make their numbers improve in 2013.

“They’re really in a holding position right now,” said Charles Golvin, an analyst at Forrester Research. “It’s really about trying to manage the ongoing business at sort of the lowest cost possible and maintaining momentum as best they can while they invest for the future.”

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4. RIM is giving out 7,500 Blackberry 10 devices