Whereas Americans have been swept away by Apple and Samsung, RIM became obsolete. However RIM’s Blackberry is still selling overseas, literally keeping the company in business.
Research in Motion has been having a hard time keeping up with the smartphone market in the United States. Stocks have plunged for the past few years and none of its devices seem to be able to create the kind of fuss Apple’s iPhones or Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones are enjoying. So, whereas things are going bad in the United States, RIM’s Blackberry is still selling overseas and it’s just enough to surprise analysts.
RIM recently reported massive sells over seas in countries like Indonesia, South Africa and Venezuela. Unfortunately for the Canadian company, sales in the US have gone pretty low, while stocks took deep plunges. Whereas one year ago, RIM was making a profit of $419 million, or 80 cents per share, on Thursday the developer announced a $235 million loss for the second fiscal quarter. That’s 45 cents a share.
Although it shipped fewer BlackBerry devices than last year, the 7.4 million smartphones sold this second quarter were on top of analysts’ estimates. It was the overseas sales that kept this company floating. This petite light at the end of the tunnel was enough to give RIM’s stock a boost of more than 20 percent in after-market trading.
Whereas the overseas sales are going great, analysts think RIM will continue to lose clients in the U.S. market. “They are driving sales in emerging markets and we think they will continue to lose subscribers in developed markets. It doesn’t tell you anything about the long-term success of the platform of the company” said analyst Peter Misek with Jefferies.
It’s obvious RIM has to change its techniques. According to RIM’s Chief Marketing Officer a new ad campaign might just do it. The marketing change is aiming at visual rather than text selling pitches. RIM’s Chief Marketing Officer Frank Boulben, stated that his only worry is to make a good quality campaign that can attract people, considering this is quite a new concept not so used by the big developers.
“We have the resources. That’s not my worry. My worry is having a quality campaign for the BB10 experience” he stated. Boulben explained the new BB campaign will try to explain prospects what each device can do. “Our marketing approach will be very much about showing, not telling,” he said.
