Strong sales of Blackberry devices have helped Smartphone-maker Research in Motion Ltd (RIM) to more than double its first quarter profit and revenue.
The Canadian company earned US$482.5 million for the three months that ended May 31, up from US$223.2 million in the same period last year.
RIM’s revenue increased to US$2.24 billion from US$1.08 billion for the same period.
There was a net gain of 2.3 million BlackBerry subscribers in the quarter, six per cent higher than in the fourth quarter, to bring the total number of subscribers to more than 16 million.
Around 5.4 million new devices were shipped by the company in the first quarter of 2008.
Jim Balsillie, co-chief executive of RIM, said revenue had increased 107 per cent in the quarter, a rise he attributed to the continued popularity of the BlackBerry platform in business, government and consumer segments.
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Denny Marie Post, the senior VP-global food and beverage at Starbucks is to move to T-Mobile as the mobile operator’s chief marketing officer (CMO).
On making the announcement, Robert Dotson, president-CEO of T-Mobile USA, said in a statement: “Denny has deep and varied experience as a marketing leader in some of the most competitive retail environments in America.
“We’re delighted she brings her extensive talents to T-Mobile to further drive our mission of enriching personal relationships.”
According to tracking data from TNS Media Intelligence, T-Mobile spent US$607 million in advertising last year.
The Samsung Instinct, touted as a worthy rival to the iPhone, has gone on sale in the US at a reduced price.
Wireless phone network Sprint is offering the touchscreen handset for USD$129.99.
The drop in price from the expected USD$ 199.99 is a move clearly intended to fuel rivalry with the new iPhone before it comes on the market next month.
Sprint’s an unlimited data plan (at $69.99 per month) and two year contract agreement are similar to AT&T’s iPhone options.
Nearly a quarter of US consumers questioned in a survey highlighted price as the main reason why they were not considering buying an Apple iPhone 3G.
Another impediment to purchase was people’s preference for a network carrier other than AT&T, Apple’s exclusive provider of the handsets in the US.
Only 4 per cent of those surveyed by PriceGrabber.com, a part of Experian, currently own an iPhone, but 42 per cent said they are considering buying one.
The study investigated purchasing trends and smartphone pricing history based on a survey of 3,066 online consumers conducted from May 20 to June 5, 2008.
Of the remaining 54 per cent who do not intend to purchase the iPhone, 41 per cent – or 22 per cent of the total – said that the mobile device costs too much.
Smaller than a notebook computer with a larger screen than a Smartphone – this is how the authors of research into Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) define them.
Consumers may still be relatively unaware of this emerging class of device, but that’s unlikely to be the case for long.
Global sales of MIDs expected to leap from 305,000 units shipped in 2008 to a projected 40 million in 2012, generating USD12 billion in revenue.
At least that’s the conclusion of a survey by semiconductor analysts Forward Concepts, which examined the market potential for MIDs and provided forecasts for both the devices and the integrated circuits that enable them.
It says that MIDs will have an unprecedented level of multimedia capabilities and typically will come in a tablet-like form factor.
“In our opinion, MIDs are not designed to replace mobile phones (or Smartphones) but to be used as companion devices,” the report states.