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RIM refutes reports of subscriber losses, says people are still buying BlackBerry phones

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 8:37PM EST
BGR

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Struggling Canadian smartphone vendor Research In Motion (RIMM) is widely expected to post its third consecutive quarterly loss on Thursday after the market closes. Following the company’s dismal first fiscal quarter report in which it said it lost $0.37 per share and announced plans to lay off 5,000 workers, RIM is expected to post a wider loss of $0.45 per share for the second quarter. As the company struggles to survive until next year when it will finally release its first BlackBerry 10 smartphones, a pleasant surprise emerged during Tuesday’s BlackBerry Jam conference: RIM isn’t losing subscribers.

RIM CEO Thorsten Heins revealed during his keynote presentation that the company’s total global subscriber base grew to 80 million users last quarter. RIM previously announced that it had 78 million total subscribers at the end of the first fiscal quarter. While growth has slowed significantly in recent months, RIM’s subscriber count is not in decline, as had been rumored.

RIM plans to launch its first BlackBerry 10 smartphones early in the first calendar quarter of 2013.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.