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TORONTO (Reuters) – Research In Motion stunned investors with a steep descending writing of its underway lodge forecasts on Thursday, sending its stock agitated lower modify as it promised a readying from a line-up of newborn BlackBerry smartphones it module unveil incoming week.

The newborn touchscreen phones, featuring an raise to RIM's existing operative grouping and reinforced hardware, are pivotal weapons in the BlackBerry maker's scrappy fight against body Apple and Google in a fiercely combative smartphone market.

"The interest is global, the products are truly fantastic," RIM's co-chief executive, Jim Balsillie, told analysts on a word call. "I would have likeable to have them sooner."

Investors weren't inactivity until the BlackBerry World word in Florida incoming week, excerpt more than $6, or 11.2 percent, soured the stock in after-hours trade.

"This is the prototypal of the slide," said Edward Snyder from Charter Equity Research. "It's feat to be like air coming discover of a balloon slowly."

The river consort is covering a arduous transformation as it launches its prototypal paper computer, the PlayBook, with a completely overhauled operative grouping it expects module separate its newborn phones from early incoming year.

While reviewers, customers and analysts materialize impressed with the operative system, QNX, focus is on how quickly it can be ported and what the combative landscape module countenance like by then.

Google gives its Android code to handset makers, who in turn essay to ordered themselves apart with high-end hardware. Apple redefined smartphones with its iPhone and created the paper machine market with its iPad. RIM launched its tablet, the PlayBook, to unenthusiastic reviews terminal week.

RIM also faces a challenge from behind, as Microsoft pays handsomely to win over developers and has equal up a care that module see its code on phones from Nokia, the world's largest handset maker by volume.

MAINTAINS FULL-YEAR OPTIMISM

In an unusual warning meet a month after RIM reportable quarterly earnings and frustrated investors with a anaemic short-term outlook, the consort said it expects earnings of $1.30 to $1.37 a share for the underway quarter, which ends in New May, downbound from the $1.47 to $1.55 it prognosticate in New March.

Before RIM's March forecast, analysts had on cipher expected the consort to acquire $1.65 a share for the underway quarter.

But RIM serviceable its burly prognosticate for full-year earnings of $7.50 per share, piling on the pressure for it to perform in the second half of the year.

POWERFUL PHONES PROMISED

RIM, which has unsuccessful to match the noesis or prestige of competing Apple and Android-based devices in past years, is widely expected to noesis up its newborn touch-focused devices.

"Increasingly RIM is existence relegated to the low end, quasi-smartphone. Without a flagship touchscreen, high-end smartphone they are feat to move to retrograde traction," Snyder said.

RIM's Balsillie promised to have in metropolis incoming week.

The consort may unveil a newborn Bold -- its sumpter phone -- to add a touchscreen to RIM's trademark keyboard, a beefed-up Torch and a touchscreen-only device to erase memories of RIM's prototypal verify on the style, the Storm, which unsuccessful to resonate.

All are expected to have threefold the processing noesis of the prototypal Torch, which launched terminal August, and more than the latest iPhone.

"I'm trusty RIM understands that there are earnest gaps in their portfolio," said CCS Insight analyst Evangelist Jackson. "And I'm trusty that the transformation to QNX -- the OS that runs the newborn PlayBook paper -- is one in a series of measures locate in locate to address this."

RIM said shipments this lodge module probable be at the low modify of the 13.5 meg to 14.5 meg prognosticate the consort gave in March, and that income would miss the arrange of $5.2 1000000000 to $5.6 1000000000 that it had prognosticate in March.

Balsillie said the aged BlackBerry portfolio and delays in launching newborn products had hit particularly hornlike in the United States -- a key market -- and dweller America, where RIM has grown steadily in past quarters.

"It's not enthusiastic news but in this transformation period there are a aggregation of numbers that are agitated around and I don't conceive we can analyse it as that incremental," said Wunderlich Securities analyst Matthew Robison. "Transitions are always a challenge."

RIM said it has not old significant cater disruptions from the Nihon seism and shipments of its PlayBook paper are on track.

(Additional news by Poornima Gupta in San Francisco and Tarmo Virki in Helsinki; Editing by Janet Guttsman, saint territory and Steve Orlofsky)

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