RIM net income up $934 mn for 3-mnth period

Canada-based Research In Motion (RIM), has reported a 31% jump in its net income at $934 million for the three-month period ended February 26, 2011, driven by strong sales of BlackBerry smartphones.

In the year-ago period, the entity had a net income of $710 million, RIM said in a statement.

The company's total revenue increased to $5.55 billion for the fourth quarter ended February 26, 2011 from $4.08 billion in the previous year. Thus registering a growth of 36%.

The attributed its strong earnings to the sale of BlackBerry smartphones.

During the quarter, RIM shipped about 14.9 million BlackBerry smartphones for a total of 52.3 million smartphones in fiscal 2011.

For the fiscal 2011, RIM has posted a net income of $3.4 billion, up 47% over previous fiscal. While revenue for the fiscal year ended February 26, 2011 was $19.9 billion, an increase of 33% from previous year.

"We are pleased to report record shipments and financial performance in fiscal 2011, RIM Co-CEO Jim Balsillie said.

Balsillie further said, "As we enter fiscal 2012, RIM is in an excellent position to benefit from the continuing convergence of the mobile communications and mobile computing markets.

We are laying a strong foundation for RIM's expanding market opportunity through focused investments and we are extremely excited about our smartphone, tablet and platform road maps."

Looking ahead, the company expects revenue to be in the range of $5.2 billion-$5.6 billion in the forthcoming quarter, while for the full year fiscal 2012, earnings per share to be in excess of $7.50.

RIM said its guidance reflects a greater mix of lower-end devices coupled with additional spending related to the launch of its first tablet device -— the BlackBerry Playbook -— which will be available from April 19.