The creators of Blackberry, Research In Motion (RIM) have reported a 40 percent increase in revenue over the last year.BlackBerry smartphone shipments have been boosted up 40 per cent to 14.2 million over the last year, while revenue grew 40 percent also to reach $5.5 billion.
RIM shares have increased on the back of strong sales of the BlackBerry Torch, which emulates touch screen smartphones while retaining its trademark keyboard. The Canadian phone company predicts a further growth of shares of up to US$1.80.
Analysts were surprised by the share rise after predictions of share earnings being placed at $1.65 each, according to Thomson Reuters.
BlackBerry phones see this rise amid a slew of competing smartphones featuring Google’s Android platform and from strong competitor, Apple.
Some analysts say that BlackBerry phones are losing market share to Android and that the loss is predicted to grow despite BlackBerry’s software update to BlackBerry 6 OS and new products.