Big day for RIM as it releases quarterly results

Research In Motion is set to release its second quarter financial results for its 2011 fiscal year after markets close this afternoon. Most people that track the Canadian ICT industry have had this date circled on their calendar since RIM announced the release date back in early-September.

This isn't your regular Q2 release. Analysts, investors and anyone with a general interest in Canadian ICT knows that this could be a very important date in the Blackberry makers storied history.

If RIM's Q2 results fall short of analyst expectations, the media attention might make it seem as though the sky is falling on the Waterloo-based company. There is no question that the competition is mounting in the wireless solutions space; it has been for years. More and more companies are opening the doors to competing mobile devices, a sharp contrast to the time when Blackberry was the be-all end-all for business use. Just last week it was announced that JPMorgan, the second largest bank in the U.S. with approximately 220,000 employees worldwide, is testing out the iPhone as a Blackberry alternative.

The troubling thing is, if RIM's numbers surpass analyst expectations it doesn't mean that the company is out of the woods. All it will do is set aside criticism and hypothetical discussions of RIM's challenges until the company's next financial release. 

I guess all we can do right now is sit back and wait for the results.

For details on how to listen in on management conference call that begins at 5 PM ET, visit here.