By Gurmukh Singh, IANS,
Toronto : Amid the deepening economic crisis, BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) has reported revenue of $2.78 billion for the third quarter, posting a 66 percent jump in year-over-year revenue for the quarter.
RIM Thursday said its quarterly profit stood at $396.3 million, up from $370.5 million during the same quarter last year.
The global wireless leader, based at Waterloo near Toronto, also added 2.6 million new subscribers during the quarter, taking its client base to 21 million. This amounts a whopping growth of 14 percent in its client base.
However, the on-going economic downturn and plunging Canadian dollar led to a shrinking of RIM’s profit by almost $100 million from $495.5 million posted during the second quarter of the year.
The overall growth was spurred as RIM launched a number of sleek smartphones to increase its appeal to teenagers and soccer moms.
During the third quarter, the company said, it shipped 6.7 million new smartphones.
RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie said the company was “pleased to report record revenue results for the third quarter and we have entered the fourth quarter with strong momentum despite the challenging general economic conditions”.
The wireless giant said it has pegged its fourth-quarter revenue forecast at $3.3 billion to $3.5 billion, with a goal of adding another 2.9 million subscribers.
However, the cheering news from RIM was dampened by more chilling news from the markets, with the Toronto stock exchange (TSX) dipping 300 points on energy stock sell-off.
The TSX composite closed at 8,425.35, with energy shares retreating 7.6 percent as crude oil slipped below $40.
The Canadian dollar, which had risen sharply against the US dollar on the news of cuts in overnight interest rates by the US Federal Reserve Wednesday, hovered around 83 cents US during the trading.