First BlackBerry 10 Devices Postponed for Q1 2013

Research In Motion has recently released its Q1 earnings report, which looks shockingly bad for the Canadian company.

Aside from the 5,000 job cuts, RIM has a $518 million USD net loss. The company also claims it has shipped 7.8 million BlackBerry smartphones and only 260,000 PlayBook tablets, which is clearly disappointing for the handset maker.

Although RIM announced earlier this year that the first devices powered by its next-generation BlackBerry 10 OS will arrive on the market in the last quarter of the year, the Canadian company had to delay the launch of these smartphones.

Even though there are no details on the reasons behind RIM’s decision to postpone the release of the first BlackBerry 10 devices for Q1 2012, the company stated that “the integration of these features and the associated large volume of code into the platform have proven to be more time consuming than anticipated.”

“RIM’s development teams are relentlessly focussed on ensuring the quality and reliability of the platform and I will not compromise the product by delivering it before it is ready. I am confident that the first BlackBerry 10 smartphones will provide a ground-breaking next generation smartphone user experience,” said Thorsten Heins, president and CEO.

Numerous rumors point to a possible acquisition of the company by Microsoft, yet there is no confirmation whatsoever.

Furthermore, word is that RIM may also sell its entire network infrastructure to a certain private equity company, but we expect more info that could shed some light on RIM’s future in the following months.

RIM expects BlackBerry 10 OS to turn the tides in its favor, but the first BlackBerry 10 devices would have to sell like crazy in order for the Canadian company to save itself from the inevitable. Stay tuned for more updates on the matter.