Blackberry 2007 Annual Report Download - page 12

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 12 of the 2007 Blackberry annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 106

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93
  • 94
  • 95
  • 96
  • 97
  • 98
  • 99
  • 100
  • 101
  • 102
  • 103
  • 104
  • 105
  • 106

10
U.S. GAAP net income in fiscal 2007 increased
approximately 69% to $631.6 million. We are pleased with
our results for fiscal 2007 and remain focused on growing the
business and driving superior operating performance as we
move into fiscal 2008.
RIM’s balance sheet remains strong at the end of fiscal
2007 with negligible debt and $1.4 billion in cash, cash
equivalents, short-term investments and investments. This
strong balance sheet gives us confidence that RIM has
adequate resources to execute its plans and take advantage
of strategic opportunities as we go forward.
RIM had approximately 6,250 employees at the end of
fiscal 2007, up from approximately 4,700 employees at the
end of fiscal 2006. We continue to hire across all areas of the
Company including R&D, carrier support, business
development, marketing, customer careand manufacturing.
We also continue to support co-op and new graduate
programs from a variety of universities and colleges to
ensurethat we have ongoing access to the best new talent
available.
BlackBerry
In fiscal 2007, the BlackBerry subscriber account base
increased to approximately 8 million from 4.9 million the
previous year. We were especially proud to have added over
1million subscriber accounts in the fourth
quarter alone – more than the combined
total added during the first 5 years. Our
strategic investments in technology
leadership, new market segments, global
expansion, channel expansion and the
overall BlackBerry ecosystem helped drive
our strong subscriber account growth in
fiscal 2007.
RIM’s global presence continues to
expand and BlackBerry smartphones were
available on over 270 networks in
approximately 110 countries at the end of the fiscal year.
Latin America presents a vibrant market opportunity with
over 40 carrier partners added in that region alone during
fiscal 2007. We also entered the Japanese market for the
first time this year with the launch of the BlackBerry 8707,
the first BlackBerry smartphone supporting UMTS network
protocols. Europe has become an important market for the
BlackBerry solution and the new products and service plans
launched this past year, together with the momentum of our
business relationships with European carriers, has led to
excellent growth in this region. At the end of fiscal 2007,
approximately 28% of the BlackBerry subscriber account
base and 35% of overall revenue was derived from outside
North America.
So far in fiscal 2008 we have also been active in launching
new devices and have already brought to market the
BlackBerry®Curve™and the BlackBerry®8830 World Edition ,
the first BlackBerrysmartphone to allow roaming between
CDMA/EvDO networks in North America and GSM/GPRS
networks around the world.
BlackBerry in the Enterprise
The BlackBerry solution’s leadership in the enterprise market
continues to be evident and thereare now over 100,000
BlackBerry Enterprise Server installations operating around
the world. RIM continued to enhance BlackBerry Enterprise
Server with powerful new administrative features for IT
departments and innovative features for mobile users.
BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express was launched for small
businesses and BlackBerry Enterprise Server for MDS
Applications was introduced to help meet the growing
demand for mobile applications on the BlackBerry platform.
Last year RIM acquired Ascendent Systems, a leading
provider of enterprise voice mobility solutions that enable
single number reachability, real-time notification and
conferencing, and voice continuity. Through this acquisition,
the BlackBerry solution is now able to deliver the same style
of seamless integration for enterprise voice that the
BlackBerry solution brings to email. Corporations can now
extend the functionality and identity of the office desk phone
to an employee’s BlackBerry smartphone and take advantage
of features such as 4 or 5 digit extension dialing, dial-out
conference calling, desk phone caller ID and single number
reachability, while increasing productivity and improving
manageability of their mobile deployments. The availability
of this functionality further strengthens and differentiates the
BlackBerry solution.
During fiscal 2007, revenue grew 47% to over $3 billion.