Research in Motion (TSE:RIM) has announced its Q3 FY2012 results for the three months ending 26 November, 2011.

Revenue was $5.2 billion, down 6 percent year-on-year.

Revenue breakdown was around 79 percent from hardware, 19 percent from services and 2 percent for software and other revenue.

Net income was $265 million, down 19 percent year-on-year.

Core growth

RIM shipped 14.1 million BlackBerry smartphones - compared to 14.2 million in Q3 FY2011 - and around 150,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets during the three month period.

Its subscriber base rose 35 percent year-on-year to almost 75 million.

"RIM continues to have strong technology, unique service capabilities and a large installed base of customers, and we are more determined than ever to capitalise on our strengths to overcome the recent execution challenges surrounding product launches and the resulting financial performance," commented joint-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis.

Bad bits

During the quarter, the company was hit by what it labels a 'service interruption', which cost it $54 million in pre-tax charges, and it also wrote down $485 million in terms of inventory provision for its weak selling BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

Its share price is also down to a seven-year low with some commentators suggesting it needs a radical restructure if it hopes to overcome the competition from rivals such as Apple, Google and Microsoft.

In this context, the two CEOs said, "We continue to evaluate ways to improve in several areas of the company's operations.

"It may take some time to realise the benefits of these efforts and the platform transition that we are undertaking, but we continue to believe that RIM has the right set of strengths and capabilities to maintain a leading role in the mobile communications industry."

Piggy bank

Cash flow from operations was approximately $895 million and RIM ended the quarter with cash, cash equivalents, short-term and long-term investments worth $1.5 billion, up $87 million compared to three months ago.

The company expects to ship between 11 million and 12 million smartphone during Q4, posting revenues in the range of $4.6-$4.9 billion.

[source: RIM (PDF)]