Blackberry-maker To Change Focus

Blackberry-maker Research in Motion (RIM) has mentioned it skeleton to refocus its business back onto corporate customers.

The statement came as RIM reported a quarterly loss, as revenues fell due to neatly descend smartphone sales.

The Canadian firm done a net loss is to 3 months to 3 Mar of $125m (78m), compared with a distinction of $934m a year earlier.

It has mislaid belligerent as its normal business customers have switched staff to iPhones or Android smartphones.

RIM moreover voiced the handing over of one-time co-chief senior manager Jim Balsillie.

Chief technology officer David Yacht will moreover be station down.

Shipments of Blackberry smartphones in the entertain fell to 11.1 million, down 21% from the formerly three-month period.

Shipments of the company's Playbook inscription strike 500,000, mostly due to significant discounting.

For the full financial year, the RIM done a net distinction of $1.2bn, down from $3.4bn in the formerly year.

The results were worse than analysts had approaching and shares in the firm fell as sufficient as 9% in after-hours trade in New York. They have depressed by 80% over the past year.

Once heralded as a of the fastest-growing companies in the world, RIM has struggled to keep up with rivals in the smartphone market, such as Apple's iPhone and handsets running on Google's Android working system.

It has moreover struggled to earn a foothold in the inscription market.

"RIM has usually sole 5% of the smartphones sole in the US in the past 3 months, Apple have 43%" mentioned CNET researcher Larry Magid. "

"They might be carrying out good in a few of the building countries but evidently in the created world they are not carrying out well, both Apple and Google are carrying out sufficient better," he told BBC News.

Just 3 months after his appointment, arch senior manager Thorsten Heins mentioned the firm would right away concentration on its normal core marketplace of corporate customers rsther than than on particular consumers as segment of a plan to spin the business around.

"We plan to refocus on the craving business and capitalise on our heading location in this segment," he said.

"We think that Blackberry cannot come after if you attempted to be everybody's heavenly and all things to all people. Therefore, you plan to erect on our strength."

Blackberry is renouned amongst young people in the UK for its Messenger service and since it is cheaper than many of its smartphone rivals, that means they do not bring in major revenue.

"Teenagers are not their principal market. They do not wish to outlay allowance catering to that business.

"Their bread and butter is the large corporations, large supervision agencies who purchase them by the thousands," Mr Magid said, explaining the reason at the back the change in focus.

RIM was interested to highlight that it was not withdrawing from the particular consumer marketplace entirely.

Blackberry will concentration on the cheaper finish of the consumer market, rsther than than perplexing to supply the type of services offering by Apple's iPhone, the BBC's technology match Rory Cellan-Jones says.

As good as stepping up subscriber numbers, the firm mentioned it is moreover interested to enlarge the amount existing customers spend.

"We have new BlackBerry 7 gadgets scheduled to come out in the next few months to energise our location in the key entry-level smartphone segment, to encouragement our efforts to go on flourishing our subscriber bottom by upgrading underline phone customers to smartphones," the firm mentioned in a statement.

The launch of Blackberry 10, approaching after that this year, and a much-delayed new working system, are approaching to be crucial to its turnaround plan.