The beleaguered BlackBerry maker posted its results for the first quarter of the year Thursday, and yes, they’re grim.

I’ll spare you the numbers; suffice to say that sales are sluggish, profits are shrinking, layoffs are on the way (no word on how many yet), and Wall Street analysts aren’t thrilled with what they’re seeing. Even worse: RIM appears to have another “bleak” quarter on its hands (as MocoNews puts it).

So, wait: is BlackBerry in trouble? Not according to RIM’s dual CEOs, who are pinning their hopes on a pair of new and upcoming devices.

First, there’s the just-released PlayBook tablet (pictured above), which has sold 500,000 units so far—puny compared to the whopping four-million-plus iPads sold last quarter, but not bad compared to the PlayBook’s non-iPad competitors (and despite some iffy reviews).

The slim, trim, touchscreen Bold 9900: the BlackBerry's savior?

Next, we have the upcoming BlackBerry Bold 9900, the first traditional-looking BlackBerry (yes, complete with the classic RIM keypad) to arrive with a touchscreen, not to mention a revamped version of the BlackBerry operating system (OS 7, to be precise).

But here’s the thing: will the PlayBook tablet and the new touchscreen Bold be enough to get Research in Motion back in the game against the iPhone and a growing army of Android phones?

If not, that BlackBerry in your purse or wallet may eventually end up going the way of the Sony Walkman.

Sources: ZDnet, MocoNews, All Things Digital

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CrackBerry got the official word from RIM on Sunday, with the company noting that only a “small number” of defective PlayBooks actually made it into the hands of customers, with the “majority” still sitting in stores or retail channels.

The story of the glitchy PlayBooks first broke over the weekend, with Engadget snagging a recall notice from Staples that include serial numbers for about 900 of the BlackBerry tablets (the 16GB version, to be precise).

The problem with the faulty PlayBooks: apparently, they shipped with a version of the QNX-based OS that “may result in the devices being unable to properly load software upon initial set-up,” according to RIM, which is urging anyone with a stricken tablet to contact the company.

The de-facto recall represents yet another black eye for the PlayBook, which debuted last month to less-than-stellar notices. (See here, here, and here, for starters.) Reviewers mainly dinged the PlayBook for its reliance on a tethered BlackBerry handset for such basic productivity apps as e-mail, calendars, and contacts—you know, the very things that most hard-core BlackBerry users depend on.

Still, PlayBook sales are reportedly solid despite the iffy reviews, and CrackBerry correctly notes that the latest recall is “not a big deal,” considering we’re only talking about 1,000 tablets here.

Related: Official Statement from Research In Motion regarding recall of approximately one thousand BlackBerry PlayBook units [CrackBerry]

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