The bellwether pager manufacturer announced that its fourth quarter earnings of $90.1-million, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $75.2-million, marked a 46 percent increase over the previous quarter of $61.6-million and 246 percent over the same quarter last year.

The company said the results were due to growth in two areas: the increase in the number of BlackBerry™ subscribers, edging close to 164,000 subscribers in 7,800 companies at year end, and substantial growth in RIM Wireless Handheld shipments.

Commenting on the company’s future prospects, Jim Balsillie, chairman and co-CEO, said, "We are well positioned for our entry to new international markets with next-generation products. We have the resources necessary to execute our business plan and extend our competitive lead, and we expect to repeat our success during the upcoming year."

Even though the company has boasted that it has no competition, phone manufacturers the likes of Motorola and Nokia and Ericsson are waiting in the wings with the launch of GPRS-enabled phones with instant e-mail access.

• European Agreements

• Supply BT Cellnet with BlackBerry Enterprise Edition, including 175,000 Blackberry Wireless Handhelds with accompanying software and service
• Offer Blackberry to the corporate customers of Esat Digifone, based in Ireland, and Telfort Mobiel B.V. of the Netherlands, as both companies will deploy GPRS networks to support the Blackberry wireless e-mail solution

• Blackberry Enterprise Edition for Lotus® Domino™ was introduced
• Alliance with IBM to offer BlackBerry to companies worldwide, as part of the IBM Global Services portfolio
• Partnership with Kasten Chase to provide secure wireless access to the U.S. Government’s Defense Message System via BlackBerry
• Alliance with Lucent Technologies, focusing on the commercialization of 3G mobile solutions