Blackberry makers’ shares take a dive

The dominance of the Blackberry hand-held mobile device is on the wane with its’ manufacturers second-quarter profits more than halved.

According to the BBC, profits have been dented by low demand for its older models.

Research in Motion (RIM), Blackberry’s manufacturer has upgraded its products introducing new smartphones but only late in the quarter.

According to AFP, RIM said it shipped 10.6 million BlackBerry smartphones during the quarter and 200,000 PlayBooks, RIM's answer to the iPad.

However financial analysts had expected BlackBerry shipments of 11.9 million units and 700,000 PlayBooks.

According to the BBC, net profit fell to $329m for the three months to 27 August, from $797m in the same period a year earlier.

The company is increased competition from Apple's iPhone and handsets running Google's Android software.

In July, the Canadian-based company said it would cut 11% of its workforce – or 2,000 jobs.

Revenue for the second quarter fell to $4.2bn, a drop of 10% on the same three months last year.

After the results were announced, RIM's shares dropped by as much as 10 per cent.

The company said it expected results to improve with the delivery of the new products.