“Blackberry maker Research In Motion Ltd. projected fiscal fourth-quarter margins and earnings at the low end of its prior forecast despite strong subscriber growth, suggesting customers may be opting for the company’s older, less expensive smart phones rather than its newer products,” Kevin Kingsbury reports for The Wall Street Journal.

MacDailyNews Take: Now, would that be because their flagship BlackBerry Storm sucks or do you want to try blame it on the economy as per usual?
• PC World: It’s official, Blackberry Storm is no Apple iPhone killer – January 27, 2009
• RIM’s big response to Apple’s iPhone, BlackBerry Storm, falls flat – January 26, 2009
• ChangeWave: Apple iPhone’s ‘very satisfied’ rating more than double that of RIM’s BlackBerry Storm – December 22, 2008
• Buyers lining up to return RIM’s BlackBerry Storm? – December 17, 2008
• Yale Daily News: The Storm isn’t an iPhone killer, it’s a Blackberry killer – December 10, 2008
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship Professor reviews RIM BlackBerry Storm: ‘Disappointing and awful’ – December 05, 2008
• NY Times’ Pogue reviews RIM’s BlackBerry Storm: ‘I’ve got a better name for it: BlackBerry Dud’ – November 26, 2008
• InformationWeek reviews RIM’s BlackBerry Storm: ‘Tiresome, slow, severe bugginess and problems’ – November 24, 2008
• TIME Mag reviews RIM’s BlackBerry Storm: ‘Novelty screen feels cheap; steer clear of this storm’ – November 20, 2008
• Chicago Tribune reviews RIM’s BlackBerry Storm: ‘Can’t compete with Apple’s iPhone’ – November 20, 2008
• Gizmodo reviews RIM’s BlackBerry Storm: ‘Heavy, laggy, sluggish, unstable, clunky, and tiring’ – November 20, 2008
• Engadget reviews RIM’s BlackBerry Storm: ‘Frustrating, inelegant, uncomfortable; a disappointment’ – November 20, 2008
• PC World reviews RIM’s BlackBerry Storm: ‘Awkward, disappointing; a failed experiment’ – November 20, 2008
• BlackBerry Storm: No Wi-Fi. No iPod. No iTunes App Store. No sale. – November 14, 2008

Kingsbury continues, “UBS analyst Maynard Um suggested the product mix may reflect consumers returning the Storm — RIM’s highly publicized touch-screen smart phone — for the Curve, the company’s older but still popular product. RIM’s outlook raises questions about demand and how pricing pressure will weigh on gross margins, he said.”

“RIM on Wednesday projected revenue for the quarter ending Feb. 28 around the midpoint of the previously forecast range, with gross margin and earnings at the low end. In December, the Waterloo, Ontario, company projected earnings between 83 cents a share and 91 cents a share, with revenue between $3.3 billion and $3.5 billion. It forecast margins of 40%-41%,” Kingsbury reports.

“The company on Wednesday boosted its fourth-quarter projection for subscriber growth by 20%, however, saying it logged a record number of activations in December and that ‘strong’ growth continued after the holidays. The company in December projected subscriber growth of 2.9 million for the quarter. RIM on Wednesday said gains should revert back to ‘more normalized’ levels in the fiscal first quarter,” Kingsbury reports.

“RIM sold nearly 500,000 Storms in the month after its Nov. 21 introduction, although that paled in comparison to the sales pace at which AT&T Corp. and Apple Inc. sold the new iPhone 3G. In its first full quarter on the market, 2.4 million of that model was sold,” Kingsbury reports. “Some Storm owners have complained about everything from clunky software for typing on the touch screen, to the device’s sluggish performance with basic tasks like dialing by voice or taking photographs.”

Kingsbury reports, “RIM is set to release its results for its fiscal fourth quarter on April 2.”

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Fred Mertz" for the heads up.]