April 2 (Bloomberg) -- Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of the BlackBerry e-mail phone, reported a fourth-quarter profit that topped analysts' estimates as consumers snapped up devices that display maps, surf the Web and play music.

Net income rose to $412.5 million, or 72 cents a share, from $187.4 million, or 33 cents, a year earlier, the company said in a statement today. Analysts on average predicted a profit of 70 cents, according to a Bloomberg survey. Sales doubled to $1.88 billion in the quarter ended March 1.

Research In Motion also forecast sales and profit for this quarter that exceeded analysts' projections. In the previous period, the BlackBerry won over holiday shoppers with models such as the video-playing Curve, fending off competition from Apple Inc. and Nokia Oyj.

``Rivals haven't gained much headway,'' Morgan Keegan & Co.'s Tavis McCourt said before the results. ``To keep the growth rate where it is really requires perfect execution. That's difficult to do.'' The Nashville, Tennessee-based analyst advises investors to hang on to the stock.

Research In Motion, based in Waterloo, Ontario, rose $2.91, or 2.5 percent, to $118.70 in extended trading after closing at $115.79 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock has more than doubled in the past 12 months.

First-quarter sales will amount to as much as $2.3 billion, exceeding the average analyst estimate of $2.01 billion. Profit will be 82 cents to 86 cents a share, which also topped predictions.

Research In Motion forecast 2.2 million in subscriber gains for this quarter, compared with McCourt's 2.35 million estimate. The company added 2.18 million subscribers in the fourth quarter. In February, Research In Motion said gains for that period had topped its own forecast of 1.82 million by as much as 20 percent.

BlackBerry Curve

The company has used the Curve and other models offering video, cameras and music to expand beyond its roster of business clients, who account for the majority of its more than 14 million subscribers. That puts the BlackBerry in competition with iPhone, the handset that incorporates the features of Apple's best- selling iPod media player.

Apple plans to add features to enhance the iPhone's appeal to businesses, which account for about two-thirds of Research In Motion's clients. Research In Motion can afford to lose some business clients without stalling growth because of its consumer gains, McCourt said.

The BlackBerry accounted for 41 percent of U.S. shipments for e-mail phones in the fourth quarter, according to Reading, England-based researcher Canalys. Apple's iPhone had 28 percent and Palm Inc., maker of the Treo, had 9 percent.

European Expansion

About two-thirds of Research In Motion's customers are in North America. The company has expanded beyond that base in the past year by selling the BlackBerry in China, the world's biggest mobile-phone market, and countries such as Russia and Ukraine.

The expansion abroad, coupled with the U.S. dollar's decline, helped lift revenue last quarter, McCourt said. The currency's decline also has led to increased costs for the Canadian company as the country's dollar appreciates, he said.

Global shipments of phones with computer-like functions, including the BlackBerry, climbed 72 percent in the fourth quarter to 35.5 million devices, with U.S. sales tripling, Canalys said. That compares with a 13 percent increase for handsets over all.

Research In Motion, which gets most of its sales from selling the devices, also collects revenue from AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless and other phone companies for each subscriber that uses BlackBerry e-mail. The fee is about $6 a month, according to Goldman, Sachs & Co. estimates.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ville Heiskanen in New York at vheiskanen@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 2, 2008 16:35 EDT