Research In Motion Sees Sales BoostResearch In Motion Sees Sales Boost

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BlackBerry Tour

Research In Motion had a boost in sales and earnings for its first fiscal quarter, and it added 3.8 million new BlackBerry subscribers.

The BlackBerry maker reported revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, which was in line with analysts' expectations, and up 52% from the same quarter last year. This was a slight decline from the previous quarter, but the fourth quarter is typically a strong one for handset manufacturers because of the holiday buying season.

First fiscal quarter earnings were $643 million, up from $482.5 million for the comparable year-earlier period.

The company received about 81% of its revenue from selling devices, 13% for service, 2% for software, and 4% from other revenue. RIM shipped about 7.8 million devices for the quarter, and it now has a user base of approximately 28.5 million subscribers.

"The industry-leading BlackBerry product portfolio is driving strong customer demand around the world and our penetration of new market segments continues to expand," said Jim Balsillie, co-CEO of RIM, in a statement. "We are particularly excited about the strength of our product portfolio for fiscal 2010 and we are looking forward to driving continued growth and profitability in our business throughout the remainder of the year."

The company will be facing some stiff competition in the next quarter, as Apple is preparing to launch a new iPhone and a discounted iPhone 3G. Additionally, Palm has just released its Pre smartphone, and it has sold very well for Sprint Nextel.

RIM said it expects the second quarter's revenue to be between $3.45 billion and $3.7 billion, which is a bit below analysts' expectations. The company recently introduced the BlackBerry Tour for Sprint and Verizon Wireless, and it will likely have more new smartphones announced by the end of the summer.

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