RIM, the parent company of the BlackBerry phones, sure could use a break. The once high-flying Canadian company has been hemorrhaging market share, experiencing massive losses (half a billion dollars), and seeing its shares of stock plunge in value, some sixty percent this year alone, with share prices now just a tenth of what they were just four years ago.

Well, now for the good news. It seems that RIM still has a little bit of fight in it, and the company was proud to report that for the first time in ages, global subscriptions have actually gone up. Woohoo! RIM CEO Thorsten Heins has just reported that their subscriber base has actually climbed from 78 million to 80 million in their latest quarter.

But more important, the company has announced that it will definitely, finally, absolutely, it’s-about-time-ly roll out the long-long-long-awaited BlackBerry 10 operating system first thing in 2013. The BB10 OS will feature many revolutionary features, such as BlackBerry’s new Hub for customizing display elements, and Balance which allows users to have two distinct personas, such as work and personal, on their phones.

Share prices jumped by over six percent at these revelations. After all, after such a long downfall, any scrap of good news is welcome news for investors.

Interesting footnote: dig deeper and you realize that the bulk of the new subscribers may actually be coming from Southeast Asia. Perhaps from Indonesia, where BlackBerry is actually gaining in popularity.

Well, here’s hoping that RIM is gearing up for a comeback. They do make pretty good products and services and they deserve a shot in the arm.

As their CEO Thorsten says, “We are fighting! Join us!”

Art

Art is a long-time editor for a number of technology publications. He is a Palanca-winning writer whose day job is to try to be as serious as possible while being a management consultant and lecturer. His favorite noodles: chapchae.

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