Research In Motion, maker of the popular BlackBerry smartphones, reported strong quarterly earnings despite the slowing economy.
The Waterloo, Ontario-based company reported profits in the fourth quarter of $518.3 million, up 25 percent compared with the same period last year.
For the full year, RIM reported a net profit of $1.89 billion, up 46 percent over the same period last year. Full-year revenue was $11.07 billion, up 84 percent.
RIM also said it shipped 7.8 million devices in the fourth quarter and 26 million devices during 2009.
It said 3.9 million new BlackBerry accounts were added in the fourth quarter and the total BlackBerry subscriber account base was now approximately 25 million.
"Looking ahead into fiscal 2010, we see exceptional opportunities for RIM and its partners to leverage the investments and success of the past year to continue growing market share and profitability." said RIM co-chief executive Jim Balsillie.
Many BlackBerry customers are businesspeople whose firms pay for the service or who need the device to send secure emails -- a strong advantage as consumer spending slows and credit remains hard to come by.
Early success with those customers has allowed RIM to plow money into developing consumer models that compete with the Apple iPhone for non-business use.
