Research in Motion is down on the Toronto Stock Exchange amid speculation that its Playbook tablet could be discontinued - a story that R-I-M says is “pure fiction.”
Shares dropped 99 cents or about 4.4 per cent to $21.68 in afternoon trading.
R-I-M doesn't usually comment on rumours, but said Thursday it remains committed to the tablet market.
An analyst's report suggested the company had stopped production of the tablet and was considering exiting that market after a staff reduction at a factory where the Playbook is made.
R-I-M sold only about 200,000 Playbooks in its most recent financial quarter, less than half of what analysts had expected and fewer than the company itself had anticipated.
But the company's senior executives told analysts that R-I-M was preparing to roll out a major new version of the Playbook's operating system, with details to be revealed at a developer conference in mid-October.
