Research in Motion posted better than expected earnings for its first quarter on Thursday, and forecast higher growth for its Blackberry line of wireless email/phone devices. Jim Balsillie, co-chief executive said, "We’re quite optimistic that this moves the ball down the field in a great way and it really does put us into a bigger category and an adjacent category that builds off of the strength we’ve got to date." in response to the companys’ announcement to make new handsets that are thinner, lighter, and have multimedia features such as a camera, as RIM moves beyond its professional market and seeks to appeal to the consumer market.

RIM’s biggest challenge now, Balsillie said, is executing its business planes.

"we’re almost fanatically trying to drive the execution forward – launch these carriers, launch these products, launch everything. It’s so exciting but it’s such heavy lifting," he said.