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RIM CEOs respond about poor U.S. sales, BlackBerry 10 delay

Research In Motion leaders try to maintain an optimistic face while answering candidly about less-than-satisfactory business in the United States.
Written by Rachel King, Contributor

Following news that Research In Motion is expecting lower revenue numbers for the fourth fiscal quarter than Wall Street is, it might not help matters that RIM is also delaying the release of BlackBerry 10.

Or maybe it will.

See also: RIM's Q4 outlook: BlackBerry shipment projections tank

RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis announced during the company's quarterly investors call on Thursday that BB 10 will not be launched until later in 2012 now. That delay can be attributed primarily to the adoption of a dual-core chipset design equipped for LTE, a design which isn't ready yet, according to RIM executives.

Although a delay sounds like yet another problem for RIM at first, this could actually work out better for the Canadian company. The hope here is that RIM is waiting longer to release a product, and that it will actually turn out to be better and successful because of that extra attention.

Just look at what happened when RIM rushed the BlackBerry PlayBook onto the market this year. Even most reviews noted that the product came across as unfinished and rough around the edges (but not literally).

Previously during the call, co-CEO Jim Balsillie admitted that sales in the United States have been disappointing when compared to RIM's shipments worldwide.

Thus, when Lazaridis later said that RIM is planning to roll out devices with a higher efficiency and lower power consuming system with a more integrated chipset than other LTE handsets in the U.S., the idea becomes clear that this is RIM's attempt to go all in and go big with BlackBerry 10 next year.

Otherwise, it doesn't seems so clear as to when RIM will have another chance like this.

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