Research In Motion Reports Fourth Quarter and Year-End Results for Fiscal 2008
 

Press Release
April 2, 2008

Research In Motion Reports Fourth Quarter and Year-End Results for Fiscal 2008

Waterloo, Ontario - Research In Motion Limited (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM), a world leader in the mobile communications market, today reported results for the three months and fiscal year ended March 1, 2008 (all figures in U.S. dollars and U.S. GAAP).

Revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008 was $1.88 billion, up 102% from $930.4 million in the same quarter of last year. The revenue breakdown for the quarter was approximately 81% for handhelds, 14% for service, 3% for software and 2% for other revenue. Revenue for the fiscal year ended March 1, 2008 was $6.01 billion, up 98% from $3.04 billion last year. RIM shipped 4.4 million smartphones in the fourth quarter and approximately 14 million smartphones during fiscal 2008.

Approximately 2.18 million net new BlackBerry® subscriber accounts were added in the quarter. At the end of the quarter, the total BlackBerry subscriber account base was over 14 million.

"We are pleased to report another year of very strong growth with shipments of approximately 14 million BlackBerry smartphones and total revenue of $6 billion. Heightened retail activities helped drive exceptional subscriber growth during the fourth quarter with net subscriber account additions growing more than 32% over the previous quarter and well over 2 million net subscriber accounts added in a single quarter for the first time," said Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO at Research In Motion. "Looking forward, the prospects for RIM and the industry are more exciting than ever and we will continue to work closely with a thriving ecosystem of partners to build on our momentum during the year ahead."

Net Income for the quarter was $412.5 million, or $0.72 per share diluted, compared with net income of $370.5 million, or $0.65 per share diluted, in the prior quarter and net income of $187.4 million, or $0.33 per share diluted, in the same quarter last year. For the fiscal year 2008, net income was $1.29 billion, or $2.26 per share diluted, up 105% over fiscal 2007.

Revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 ending May 31, 2008 is expected to be in the range of $2.23-$2.30 billion. Net subscriber account additions in the first quarter are expected to be approximately 2.2 million. Earnings per share for the first quarter are expected to be in the range of $0.82-$0.86 per share diluted.

The total of cash, cash equivalents, short-term investments and long-term investments was $2.34 billion as at March 1, 2008, compared to $2.13 billion at the end of the previous quarter, an increase of $211 million over the prior quarter. Uses of cash in the quarter included capital expenditures of $110 million and the acquisition of intangible assets of $310 million.

The replay of the company’s Q4 conference call can be accessed after 7 p.m. (eastern), April 2, 2008 until midnight (eastern), April 16, 2008. It can be accessed by dialing 416-640-1917 and entering passcode 21221696#. The conference call will also appear on the RIM web site, live at 5:00 pm (eastern) and archived at Research In Motion until midnight April 16, 2008.

2.18 million new BB subscriber accounts in one quarter!.....No wonder my BIS mail gets slow!

Wirelessly posted (blackberry 8140)

Frigggin awesome

Hear that IPhone/Apple

An analyst on Bloomberg radio was really pegging his hopes on the RIM report. As the numbers were announced he seemed fairly surprised they were as conservative as they were! Strong, steady growth in the face of growing competition...I'll take that any day over an ekg-like spike-and-valley.

-simpson

it's a pity bb is not used as a bb in china.how i hope bb will enter china in a official way

they are officially entering china very soon, if they havent already. (i am fairly certain they have)