Research In Motion (RIM) announced it will take a one-time charge in its fiscal third quarter to write off unsold inventory of its BlackBerry PlayBook tablets. The mainly non-cash charge will cost USD 485 million, or USD 360 million after tax. RIM said the charge "reflects the current market environment" and will also help it increase promotional activity to sell the tablet. RIM sold into channels approximately 150,000 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets in the third quarter and sell-through to end customers was higher than this amount, according to the company's estimates. Both consumer and enterprise customers who purchase a BlackBerry PlayBook at the current promotional pricing, The company also shipped around 14.1 million BlackBerry smartphones in the third quarter ended 26 November, which was in line with previous guidance of between 13.5-14.5 million. Adjusted revenue in the third quarter, excluding a charge against revenue of approximately USD 50 million related to the service outage that occurred in the quarter, is expected to be slightly lower than the previously guided range of USD 5.3-5.6 billion, reflecting product mix and the impact of weak PlayBook sales. Gross margin is expected to be in line with previous guidance of 37 percent. Excluding the PlayBook provision and the outage-related charge, RIM expects adjusted diluted earnings per share in the third quarter to be at the low to mid point of the USD 1.20-1.40 per share range it previously guided. The company's cash balance at the end of the quarter increased by approximately USD 80 million to USD 1.5 billion. The company is still in the process of finalising its fourth-quarter outlook, and based on preliminary estimates, RIM expects unit shipments in the fourth quarter to be below third-quarter levels. The company no longer expects to meet its full-year adjusted EPS guidance of USD 5.25-6.00.
