RIM doubles quarter profits

BlackBerry maker RIM has reported good fourth-quarter profits yesterday after the close of the stock market. The company took in $1.9bn in revenue, more than double last year's fourth-quarter haul of $930.4m. And it had $412.5m left over in profits, equal to 72 cents per share in profits and two cents better than Wall Street analysts were expecting.

The company shipped 4.4 million smart phones during the quarter, and 14 million for the year. Many of those phones were sold to new customers, as RIM added 2.8 million subscribers to the BlackBerry service during the quarter.

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Comparisons are sure to be made when Apple reports first-quarter iPhone shipment totals later this month. This will be a trend worth watching in the second half of the calendar year, whether Apple's decision to add business-friendly features to the iPhone starts to make a dent in RIM's sales.

However, Jim Balsillie, co-CEO of RIM, noted on a conference call that RIM is starting to develop more of a following among consumers, expanding beyond its typical business users. He pointed out that one million Facebook users have downloaded a BlackBerry application that lets them access their profiles through their devices.

RIM is confident about the next quarter: it delivered guidance above and beyond what Wall Street was expecting. The company predicted revenue to fall between $2.23bn to $2.3bn and profits per share of between 82 cents to 86 cents. Financial analysts were expecting revenue of $2bn and earnings per share of 76 cents.

Original article: RIM earnings surge during fourth quarter from CNET News.com