Research In Motion revenues and profits increase

Research in Motion (RIM) has announced a 33 per cent increase in quarterly revenues, despite the company's BlackBerry format recently being surpassed by Android as the most popular mobile platform.

For the three months ended February 26, RIM saw revenues rise 1 per cent to $5.6 billion, while the company's full year results rose by 33 per cent to $19.9 billion. Net income for the fourth quarter increased slightly from $911 million to $934 million, with full year net income up 47 per cent to $3.5 billion.

Despite recently losing its number one market position to Android, RIM reported shipments of 5.23 million smartphones over the course of the year.

At the same time as releasing its financial results the company also announced that its new BlackBerry PlayBook would support Android apps. The PlayBook is due to launch in the US on April 19 for $499.

Currently there are only around 25,000 BlackBerry specific apps, compared to 200,000 Android apps - giving PlayBook owners to a much wider range of content - including games - than would otherwise be the case.

Although it has never been a focus of the company RIM has also revealed new support from video game middleware developers Ideaworks Labs and Unity Technologies, allowing developers to more easily port content between the different operating systems.