BUSINESS BRIEFING / EARNINGS
From Times Wire Reports
Research in Motion Ltd. said fourth-quarter profit would come in at the low end of its target, signaling the BlackBerry maker sacrificed margins to gain customers.
Gross margin, or the percentage of revenue left after production costs, also will be at the lower end, Research in Motion said. The results suggest the latest models, such as the Storm and the Bold, have won fewer customers than some of the older BlackBerrys, according to analysts.
The company’s most recent targets, given in December, were 83 to 91 cents for per-share profit and 40% to 41% for gross margin. The company said then that margins narrowed as new phones, such as the BlackBerry Storm, made up for a larger percentage of sales.