WSJ: RIM to Take $485 Million Charge Related to Tablet

kjk · 12-02-2011, 11:44 AM

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/...jEwNDIyWj.html

Quote:

TORONTO—Research in Motion Ltd. said it would take a $485 million, mostly noncash charge in its fiscal third quarter, after marking down the value of its large inventory of PlayBook tablets. The company also lowered its projection for earnings and revenue for the rest of the year, and warned of falling BlackBerry shipments in the current quarter.

Half a billion loss for the Playbook in one quarter, 3 billion lost by HP on WebOS for the year. But both companies still did report overall profits.

RainingLemur · 12-02-2011, 12:42 PM

That's...a pretty big hit.

Did RIM ever address the issue with not being able to use Email unless tethered to a Blackberry?

monkeyluis · 12-02-2011, 09:29 PM

Poor RIM. Not sure where they went wrong. Didn't they lower the price of the playbook too?

GreenMonkey · 12-02-2011, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RainingLemur

That's...a pretty big hit.

Did RIM ever address the issue with not being able to use Email unless tethered to a Blackberry?

No. IIRC you can't use BB messenger either (I could be wrong).

They've done a pretty bad job of implementing the Playbook as something useful.

afv011 · 12-03-2011, 01:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RainingLemur

That's...a pretty big hit.

Did RIM ever address the issue with not being able to use Email unless tethered to a Blackberry?

Should be fixed by Feb next year, almost a year after the Playbook release. And many months later than promised. Let's see if the can meet their deadline, but sounds like too little too late, the market will be flooded with quad core android tablets and countless rumors about the ipad 3 (magical, of course, and game changer, again TM).

afv011 · 12-03-2011, 01:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by monkeyluis

Poor RIM. Not sure where they went wrong. Didn't they lower the price of the playbook too?

Apps, or lack thereof. Assuming people would pay top dollar for a crippled tablet unless you have a BB phone. Draconian rules to become a developer. Marketing (flash, that's your selling point?). Failed promises (full email and calendar promised months ago). Asking ipad prices when they don't have the brand name or status. And on and on.

kcowan · 12-03-2011, 03:01 PM

As a Canadian who is short Rim as of last December, even I am amazed at how their management has repeatedly sc***ed the pooch on this one. They need someone with marketing smarts to start running the company.

starrlamia · 12-03-2011, 06:53 PM

The whole point of the sale and loss of money was to create a bigger customer base and hopefully win some fan loyalty, the idea is they take a loss now and hopefully recoup it in the future.
At the price the pb was selling for during the sale it was totally worth it, crippled or not.

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12-02-2011, 12:42 PM	#2
RainingLemur Spork Connoisseur Posts: 2,355 Karma: 16780603 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: Nook Color	That's...a pretty big hit. Did RIM ever address the issue with not being able to use Email unless tethered to a Blackberry?

12-02-2011, 09:29 PM	#3
monkeyluis Banned Posts: 725 Karma: 656644 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Central Florida Device: iPad "3", Kindle Touch, Kindle Fire, iPhone 4S	Poor RIM. Not sure where they went wrong. Didn't they lower the price of the playbook too?

12-03-2011, 03:01 PM	#7
kcowan eReader Newbie Posts: 9 Karma: 12 Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: PV/Vancouver Device: Android, Kobo	As a Canadian who is short Rim as of last December, even I am amazed at how their management has repeatedly sc***ed the pooch on this one. They need someone with marketing smarts to start running the company.

12-03-2011, 06:53 PM	#8
starrlamia Zealot Posts: 125 Karma: 1000000 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Ontario Canada Device: Sony PRS-650, PB 16g	The whole point of the sale and loss of money was to create a bigger customer base and hopefully win some fan loyalty, the idea is they take a loss now and hopefully recoup it in the future. At the price the pb was selling for during the sale it was totally worth it, crippled or not.