TORONTO-A price cut by one of Research In Motion Ltd.’s customers and new product announcements by rivals have prompted a brokerage firm to cut its revenue estimates for the Canadian firm.
UBS Warburg LLC said in a research report that it reduced forecasts for fiscal 2003 and 2004 after U.K.-based wireless network operator MmO2 cut the price of RIM BlackBerry devices by 50 percent to just under $307 from $612 to boost sales and increase number of subscribers.
The brokerage firm also said that new competition from software giant Microsoft Corp., which plans to offer a Pocket PC cell phone for AT&T Wireless Services Inc., “may tend to set prices lower.” UBS now expects a revenue projection for Waterloo, Ont.-based RIM in 2003 of $335 million, down from a forecast of $349 million. For 2004, it expects sales of $426 million, down from $593 million.
RIM’s “outlook is still too aggressive in light of the IT spending environment,” said Michael Urlocker, a UBS analyst.
