RIM Shipped 500,000 BlackBerry PlayBooks In Q1, Announcing Layoffs

Research In Motion (RIM) has just announced its first quarter results and things are not looking good. The company's net income for the quarter was $695 million, which is down from the $934 million of the previous quarter as well as down from the $769 million of the same quarter last year. RIM is quickly losing ground with the poor performance of its PlayBook tablet and the fierce competition.

Android and iOS devices are certainly the stars of the market right now, with each quickly encroaching on the areas that made that differentiated the BlackBerry. Both sides are stepping up security and enterprise offerings, with Apple most recently unveiling a new iMessage service that looks to be a BBM killer. Their PlayBook tablet being rushed and half-baked when launched also didn't help.

RIM reported that 13.2 million BlackBerrys and 500,000 units of the PlayBook were shipped in the first quarter. But those numbers are shipment figures and not actual sales numbers, which could be much lower. As a result, the company is also announcing layoffs.

A 4G WiMAX version for the PlayBook has been expected, but has not shown up. Instead a 3G version was recently quietly offered up. Also rumored, is a 10-inch version of the tablet to hit in time for the holiday season this year.

[via TheLoop]