RIM posts smaller than expected loss; subscriber base slips

Research In Motion reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss on Thursday, but recorded the first-ever drop in its subscriber base barely a month before the crucial launch of the new BB10 smartphone line.

Excluding one-time items related to restructuring and other issues, the struggling BlackBerry maker reported a loss of $114 million or 22 cents a share.

Analysts, on average, had forecast a loss of 35 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM, which hopes to reinvent itself and revive its fortunes with the launch of the Blackberry 10 line next month, reported fiscal third-quarter net income of $9 million, or 2 cents a share. That compared with a year-ago profit of $265 million, or 51 cents.

The company said its subscriber base in the quarter fell to about 79 million from about 80 million in the period ended September 1.

(Reporting by Euan Rocha; Editing by Janet Guttsman)