Research In Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry device, reported third-quarter sales and profit that missed its forecasts, signaling that the popularity of smart phones isn’t immune to the economic slump.

Profit rose to no more than 83 cents a share in the quarter ended Nov. 29, missing a company forecast of as much as 97 cents, Waterloo, Ontario-based Research In Motion said yesterday in a statement. The results were preliminary, with the full financial report due on Dec. 18.

Research In Motion, whose BlackBerry competes against Apple Inc.‘s iPhone, joined Palm Inc. in disclosing results this week that missed estimates. Citigroup Inc. and BNP Paribas SA are predicting 2009 global mobile-phone shipments to fall for the first time in eight years and investors may look to Nokia Oyj, the industry’s top vendor, to provide more details on the outlook at an event tomorrow.

“In the U.S. and in most parts of the world, you’ve already seen very high penetration rates of mobile phones,” said James Faucette, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Oregon. “People aren’t giving up their mobile phones; they just aren’t replacing them as frequently as they have in the past.”

Research In Motion fell $2.48, or 6.2 percent, to $37.32 yesterday in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares have dropped 67 percent this year.

Katie Lee and Marisa Conway, two company spokeswomen, didn’t return messages seeking comment.

Late to Market

Sales probably climbed to as high as $2.78 billion in the quarter, the company said, short of its forecast of up to $3.1 billion.

Product delays crimped orders for Research In Motion’s phones, eating into profit, co-Chief Executive Officer Jim Balsillie said in the statement. The company’s BlackBerry Bold, introduced last month, was originally slated for a summer release. The decline of foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar accounted for about a third of the difference between the forecast and actual results, the company said.

“It’s pretty disappointing,” Faucette said. He doesn’t own the shares, which he expects to perform in line with their peers. “Bringing products to market late has hurt them, and they’ll have to focus on keeping a fresh line of phones coming in.”

Nokia, based in Espoo, Finland, will hold an event for analysts in New York tomorrow. The company may predict a 6 percent drop in sales volume for 2009, reducing profit, according to Citigroup.

Palm’s Results

Palm’s sales in the quarter ended Nov. 28 dropped to as low as $190 million, the company said this week. That trailed the $331.8 million average of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The company expects to cut quarterly expenses 20 percent by May as it trims its workforce and streamlines European operations.

“The recent profit warnings by tech heavyweights are quite alarming,” said Bevan Yeh, who helps manage the equivalent of $1.2 billion at Prudential Financial Securities Investment Trust Enterprise in Taipei. “That suggests the economy is still finding its bottom and won’t recover until after the first quarter of next year.”

Research In Motion released its Bold and Storm models last quarter in an attempt to regain an advantage over Apple, which took the lead in smart-phone shipments last quarter with the iPhone. With those two BlackBerry models available, U.S. subscriber growth has gained momentum in the past few weeks, the company said.

New IPhone

Apple released a speedier version of the iPhone in July and now sells the device in more than 50 countries. To lure more users away from the BlackBerry, Apple CEO Steve Jobs added software that links the iPhone to corporate e-mail systems and opened an online application store.

On Dec. 1, Credit Suisse Group AG cut its projection for smart-phone unit sales to 151.7 million this year, from an earlier estimate of 168 million. Sales may reach 187.2 million next year, compared with a previous prediction of 275.3 million, Credit Suisse said. Smart phones can better handle e-mail, videos and Web browsing than standard handsets.

Gross margin, a measure of profitability, was between 45 percent and 46 percent last quarter, lower than expected because of currency exchange rates and weaker sales of higher-priced phones, Research In Motion said.

Canada, which provides about 8 percent of the company’s sales, saw its currency decline 14 percent between Sept. 1 and the end of the quarter. In the U.K., where Research In Motion earns about 5 percent of revenue, the pound dropped 15 percent in the same period. The euro fell 13 percent.

Deutsche Bank AG analyst Brian Modoff said in October that the company might miss its quarterly goals because of the Bold’s delayed release in the U.S., Research In Motion’s largest market.

Source:Bloomberg