Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Blackberry profit crumbles, 5000 jobs go

Updated at 6:51 pm on 29 June 2012

The Canadian maker of Blackberry phones, Research in Motion, or Rim, says it will cut 5000 jobs worldwide.

The BBC reports the struggling firm has just posted losses of more than $0.5 billion for the first quarter of the year, far worse than had been expected.

It is also to delay the launch of its new phone operating system Blackberry 10.

The confirmation of job losses, which RIM had warned of last month, came as the firm reported a $518 million net loss in the three months to 2 June.

That compared with a $695m profit in the same period a year earlier.

Analysts said the results were worse than expected and the Blackberry 10 delay spelt more bad news for RIM.

Revenue in the first quarter dropped 43% to $2.8bn as sales of its Blackberry smartphones fell sharply for a second straight quarter.

RIM has struggled to keep up with rivals in the smartphone market, such as Apple's iPhone and handsets running on Google's Android operating system. It has also struggled to gain a foothold in the tablet market.

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