RIM’s latest earnings show why BlackBerry 10 can’t get here soon enough

RIM’s third quarter numbers 2013 are in, and they prove one thing: BlackBerry 10 needs to get here — and quick.

RIM pulled $2.73 billion in revenue last quarter, and while that slightly beat expectations, it’s still a 47 percent drop from the $5.2 billion the company reported this time last year. It’s also a five percent drop from last quarter’s revenue. Clearly, RIM just can’t pull in the same amount of  cash anymore.

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But it is still selling devices. RIM says it shipped 6.9 million BlackBerry smartphones last quarter, and, more surprisingly, 255,000 PlayBook tablets. (I’m not sure who is buying those PlayBooks, but I can guarantee RIM is glad they exist.)

Revenue concerns aside, investors welcomed RIM’s results by boosting its stock roughly nine percent in after hours trading.

RIM’s situation, however, still  remains pretty dire, which is why the January launch of BlackBerry 10 is so important to both its bottom line and long-term survival. Fortunately, that effort is looking pretty promising so far, as RIM has already started testing its BlackBerry 10 devices at over a hundred companies in the United States.

Alongside its earnings, RIM also announced that chief information officer Robin Bienfait will retire at the end of this year. While the timing of the move is a bit inconvenient given the BB10 launch, RIM says that Bienfait will advise the company during its transition to the new operating system.