Canadian tech giant , the beleaguered maker of phones and tablets, suffered what was arguably its worst hit yet Thursday.
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The company revealed that its share of the global smartphone market had dropped by half in the first quarter. As a result, sales were down a stunning 43% on the previous quarter -- a loss per share of 28 cents.
How bad is that? Analysts, prepared by abstract warnings of bad news from CEO Thorston Heins, had been predicting dire outcomes, but few had gone higher than a 14 cent per share loss. The average was a 3-cent loss. (The company halted trading Wednesday afternoon, after shares had slid 18%.)
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To get itself back on track, the company says it has to save a billion dollars by slashing around 5,000 employees.
And if it was possible for the news to get worse than that, Heins also revealed that the company's saving technological grace -- its , a much-needed reboot of the BlackBerry OS that has garnered tepid praise so far -- would not arrive until 2013. He had previously pegged its arrival to the latter half of 2012.
But might that be too late? The company has one small factor on its side, at least: management isn't sugar-coating how much trouble it's in.
"I am not satisfied with these results," said Heins, "and continue to work aggressively with all areas of the organization and the Board to implement meaningful changes to address the challenges, including a thoughtful realignment of resources and honing focus within the company on areas that have the greatest opportunities.”
That could be the sign of a sincere rethink of its (which is driving the enterprise market for smartphones now, not vice-versa as it was in RIM's heyday.) Or it could be the kind of business crisis jargon Heins thinks shareholders want to hear.
, as the company is reportedly thinking of doing, is a high risk strategy.
One thing is clear about its future: RIM cannot endure many more quarters like this without being permanently sidelined in the smartphone game.
Can anything save BlackBerry? Should it split itself up, or consider a fire sale to a smartphone-hungry company like Microsoft? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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This story originally published on Mashable .
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