Blackberry 2010 Annual Report Download - page 4

Message from the Co-CEOs
Fiscal 2010 was another successful year for Research In Motion
with strong financial results and record shipments of 37 million
BlackBerry® smartphones. RIM was able to successfully expand
its global market share while continuing to achieve strong sales in
North America. This exceptional performance was fueled by a broad
portfolio of compelling products and services and solid business
execution by RIM’s employees and partners.
Against the backdrop of a challenging global economy, RIM
grew revenue 35% to $15 billion and GAAP net income 30% to $2.5
billion in fiscal 2010. At the end of the year, the BlackBerry subscriber
account base was over 41 million with approximately 17 million net
new subscriber accounts added and over a third of our customers
residing outside North America. There
are now approximately 550 carriers
and distribution partners offering
BlackBerry products and services in
175 countries around the world. RIM
continues to expand the reach of the
BlackBerry platform in new market
segments while maintaining its
leadership position in the enterprise
market.
In fiscal 2010, over 35% of total
revenues came from outside
North America. RIM’s international
presence grew significantly during
the year, with robust growth in Latin
America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East
and Western Europe. Smartphones such
as the BlackBerry® Curve™ 8520 and the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9700, as
well as popular applications that leverage the BlackBerry platform
such as push email and BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™), have been
instrumental in driving RIM’s international growth. BBM use increased
five-fold during fiscal 2010 and we believe this growth is a strong
indicator of the potential for key applications to drive even greater
adoption and loyalty to the BlackBerry platform in the coming year.
The value of the BlackBerry brand also increased substantially
during fiscal 2010. Last year we were pleased to have been included
on the Millward Brown Top 100 Most Powerful Brands list. This
year our focused business efforts, including integrated marketing
programs and new advertising campaigns, helped move the
BlackBerry brand from 51st to 16th on the list. We continue to invest
in the BlackBerry brand in order to grow consumer interest and
purchase intent both internationally and in North America.
Research and development efforts in fiscal 2010 remained
focused on developing world class products and services that deliver
a unique mobile experience for our customers. During the past year
we launched several new BlackBerry smartphones with enhanced
functionality, features, performance and designs, including the
BlackBerry® Tour™ 9630, BlackBerry® Curve™ 8520/ 8530, BlackBerry®
Storm2™ 9520/9550 and BlackBerry Bold 9700.
Early in fiscal 2010, RIM launched BlackBerry App World™ and we
are pleased to report that the developer community is thriving. RIM
continues to provide developers with robust tools, technologies and
business services to assist them in creating and marketing even more
powerful and useful applications. Related initiatives in 2010 included
the second annual BlackBerry Developer Conference, the introduction
of the BlackBerry Academic Program and a variety of new
development tools, such as BlackBerry® Theme Studio, BlackBerry
Widgets, and new payment and advertising tools and services to
help developers monetize their applications. RIM also previewed
a new WebKit-based browser that is expected to launch in
fiscal 2011.
The BlackBerry platform remains the
corporate standard for enterprise mobility. In
recognition of its leadership in the enterprise
market in fiscal 2010, BlackBerry® Enterprise
Server version 5.0 received the Global
Mobile Award for the “Best Mobile Enterprise
Product or Service” at GSMA’s Mobile World
Congress and was also the first mobile
platform to receive the Common Criteria
EAL4+ Security Certification. We are
committed to maintaining our leadership
in this market and continue to strengthen
the BlackBerry platform through enhanced
integration of value added services such as BlackBerry® Mobile Voice
System (mobilizes PBX systems and brings office phone features to
BlackBerry smartphones), Chalk Pushcast Software (for corporate
podcasting) and enterprise social networking and collaboration
tools. We also recently launched BlackBerry® Enterprise Server
Express to further extend our market opportunity by providing
companies of all sizes with a cost-effective solution that supports
mobile connectivity for employees without compromising security or
manageability.
RIM is a pioneer in the wireless data industry and the
BlackBerry solution was purposefully designed to deliver a true
“push”based user experience while also offering advanced security,
manageability, spectral efficiency and power management.
RIM’s BlackBerry® Infrastructure is a key component in the unique
BlackBerry value proposition and continues to be an important
source of our competitive advantage. RIM’s proactive and ongoing
investment in infrastructure has enabled us to continue to provide the
At RIM, we build groundbreaking wireless technology. We pioneered
push email and made smartphones before most people knew what
a smartphone was. Today, feature phone users are rapidly aspiring
to smartphones, and this transition is propelling our industry and the
adoption of the BlackBerry platform.