Research In Motion today warned that it will miss its Q3 and full-year estimates due poor PlayBook sales. It now expects to lose US$485 million this quarter due to “several factors, including recent shifts in the competitive dynamics of the tablet market and a delay in the release of the PlayBook OS 2.0 software.”
RIM sold approximately 150,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets in the third quarter. It also reported that its own internal data suggests that sell-through to end customers was higher than this as recent promotions both in Canada and the US has led to “a significant increase in demand.”
Despite the latest bad news, RIM reasserted its commitment to the PlayBook:
“RIM is committed to the BlackBerry PlayBook and believes the tablet market is still in its infancy. Although a number of factors have led to the need for an inventory provision in the third quarter, we believe the PlayBook, which will be further enhanced with the upcoming PlayBook OS 2.0 software, is a compelling tablet for consumers that also offers unique security and manageability features for the enterprise,” said Mike Lazaridis, Co-CEO at Research In Motion. “Early results from recent PlayBook promotions indicate a significant increase in demand across most channels. We look forward to continuing to grow the installed base of PlayBook users and to attracting more and more developers to expand the volume of applications, content and services that leverage the power of the industry leading QNX-based platform.”
RIM also warned that it expects to sell fewer BlackBerry devices in the fourth quarter “due to several factors including lower than expected sell-through in the third quarter and RIM’s current view of fourth quarter demand.”
RIM will announce its fiscal year 2012 Q3 financial results on December 15th.