The quarterly results of Research in Motion (RIMM), the maker of BlackBerry smartphones, shows that they're making solid inroads into the consumer market, growing beyond its core business customer base.
Revenue for their third quarter increased to $1.67 billion, twice what it generated in the same quarter last year. Profits coincided with revenue growth, increasing to $370.5 million, up from last years' $175.2 million in the same quarter, ending November 30.
While there have been concerns about the company's performance with the uncertainty of the economy, evidently consumers aren't holding back in personal electronics, as the results show.
For the quarter, RIM increased subscriber accounts, adding 1.65 million new customers. That brings the total subscriber base of the company to approximately 12 million. Of those, 34 percent are either small business owners or consumers.
"It is clear from the results in this quarter that BlackBerry smartphones have crossed over" from the business to the consumer market, said RIM's co-chief executive James Balsillie.
The company also has some good prospects ahead in the short-term future, as they're working on a touch-screen device which will compete more directly with Apple's iPhone (AAPL). It's being tested by one European carrier at this time.
One potential problem to solve there is with the business base of RIM, which prefers to communicate with emails. They would have to come up with a solution that could move a touch-screen keypad out of the way.
Considering the competition, RIM is performing extremely strong, and is even increasing its market share. For the quarter, they increased share for cellular PDA's and smartphones in the United States from 35.6 percent to 39 percent, over last years third quarter.
Balsillie also said that carriers had promoted the BlackBerry beyond expectations, which has added to the strength of their quarterly sales.
Assuming their touch-screen is a success, RIM is positioned strongly for some time ahead.
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