Research in Motion the Canadian tech firm behind the BlackBerry brand has announced it is to slash jobs after it revealed its 2011 Q1 revenues had dropped 12 per cent on the previous quarter.

Announcing that the year had “gotten off to a challenging start,” RIM’s co-chief executive Jim Balsillie revealed that the company responsible for the BlackBerry PlayBook has made earnings in the region of $695 million for the year’s opening quarter from revenues of $4.9 billion despite reportedly strong sales of its first tablet device.

With Balsillie confirming that RIM’s downward spiral looks set to continue throughout the year’s second quarter the co-chief executive revealed that not only would the company be forced to reduce its headcount, BlackBerry products being primed for launch would be delayed until the “very late part of August.”

Despite reportedly shipping more than 500,000 of its BlackBerry PlayBook tablets during the opening quarter with sales set to increase further following the device’s UK launch yesterday, RIMs woes continued as sound specialist Dolby announced it is to sue the North American firm over unlicensed use of its technology.

Covering the use of Dolby Laboratories’ audio compression technologies in a series of BlackBerry smartphones and the PlayBook, the lawsuit has been filed in the US and Germany with RIM reportedly failing to acquire full licenses for the tech.

Will RIM and the BlackBerry brand recover from its latest stumble or is it on a downward spiral? Let us know what you think via the T3 Twitter and Facebook feeds.

Via: TheGuardian