BlackBerry 10 delayed till 2013, RIM to cut 5,000 jobs amid worst quarterly results ever

Terrible news pouring in from RIM, which has just announced its first quarter earnings. The BlackBerry maker has reported its first ever operating loss in eight years. It has posted a revenue of $2.8 billion and a loss of $0.37 per share. It has also announced it will be slashing as many as 5,000 jobs. AllThingsD is also reporting that the BlackBerry 10 OS update has been put off till 2013 (confirmed now).
Revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 was $2.8  billion, down 33% from $4.2 billion in the previous quarter and down 43% from $4.9 billion in the same quarter of fiscal 2012.  The revenue breakdown for the quarter was approximately 59% for hardware, 36% for service and 5% for software and other revenue.  During the quarter, RIM shipped 7.8 million BlackBerry smartphones and approximately 260,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets.

Our first quarter results reflect the market challenges I have outlined since my appointment as CEO at the end of January.  I am not satisfied with these results and  continue to work aggressively with all areas of the organization and the Board to implement meaningful changes to address the challenges, including a thoughtful realignment of resources and honing focus within the Company on areas that have the greatest opportunities.
Our top priority going forward is the successful launch of our first BlackBerry 10 device, which we now anticipate will occur in the first quarter of calendar 2013.  In parallel with the roll out of BlackBerry 10, we are aggressively working with our advisors on our strategic review and are actively evaluating ways to better leverage our assets and build on our strengths, including our growing BlackBerry subscriber base of approximately 78 million, our large enterprise installed base, our unique network architecture and our industry leading security capabilities.
Thorsten Heins, President and CEO, RIM

With BlackBerry 7 sales stagnant and no sign of BlackBerry 10 till next year, RIM does not have anything to offer to customers for the rest of the year. This, in our opinion is the final blow to RIM and the end is near. Now all that remains to be seen is how RIM goes down – whether it is broken apart in pieces and sold or whether it already has a buyer lined up to take care of the complete mess.