Research in Motion announces 40 per cent revenue growth

Quarterly results beat analyst expectations on the back of 14.2 million BlackBerry sales

Research in Motion, the company behind the BlackBerry smartphone, has announced strong results for the third quarter of 2010.

The figures showed a 40 per cent growth in revenue over the same period last year to $5.5bn (£3.5bn). This was largely driven by a record number of BlackBerry sales, with 14.2 million units sold, also showing a growth of 40 per cent year on year.

RIM attributed the performance to the strong sales of its Torch smartphone, which incorporates touchscreen technology with the more usual BlackBerry keyboard.

The company reported a subscriber base of 55 million by the end of the quarter.

RIM predicted revenue for the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, which will end on 26 February 2011, to be in the region of $5.6bn.

The smartphone market is increasingly cutthroat, as the leading companies vie for a share of what is now widely accepted to be well saturated. Device manufacturers Apple and Nokia are fighting a legal battle, with claims and counter-claims of patent infringement.

Analysts estimate Apple could sell in the region of 35 million smartphones in 2011.