Industry coverage, news, original feature articles, how to guides, videos, podcasts and reviews of BlackBerry service providers, software, accessories, hosted exchange providers and more

If you are new here, you may want to subscribe to my feed or subscribe to us on Twitter!

RIM released their financial information for the first quarter yesterday. How did they do? According to Bloomberg, they slightly missed the mark. Their analysts predicted $2.27 billion in sales, while RIM recorded $2.24 billion. What’s more is that they didn’t give sparkling predictions for the second quarter, based on an increase in marketing expenditures. Yes, that’s in an effort to compete with the iPhone, which will hit shelves on July 11. Still, it wasn’t all bad for RIM.

Profits were up huge from last year, at $482.5 million over $223.2 million in the first quarter of last year. The company also added 2.3 million users during this period, which slightly beat a popular estimate of 2.2 million. The good news: 60 percent of the additions were of the consumer variety. Consumers now comprise 40 percent of BlackBerry users.

“They’re ramping up spending, and it’ll be mostly for marketing,” said Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt in Nashville, Tennessee. He expects the stock to perform in line with the wider market and doesn’t own any. “A lot of analysts will need to lower their profit estimates going forward.”

The stock closed down 7.6 percent after the announcement, though that might not be directly tied to the slightly missed sales forecasts. Global Crown Capital analyst Pablo Perez-Fernandez thinks it’s about the Bold:

“Our fears about the Bold being late are probably true and that’s why the stock is down,” said Perez-Fernandez, who recommends buying the shares and doesn’t own any.

So it’s not all bad for RIM. In fact, if they can beat those mid-August rumors with the Bold on AT&T, things could be looking up.<

Share on Facebook | Add to De.licio.us | Digg This! | Technorati