BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) has revealed revenues of $4.9bn (£2.7bn) and net profits of $695m for the first quarter, compared to £5.6bn and $769m respectively in Q1 last year. The figure falls short of the revised profit forecast it issued in April. RIM’s shares fell sharply following the announcement of the results, and had to be suspended for a short time.

RIM sold 13.2m BlackBerrys, and shipped 500,000 units of the PlayBook during the quarter. The PlayBook went on sale in the US in March, and in many other territories, including the UK, yesterday.

Announcing the results, RIM joint chief executive Jim Balsillie said: “Fiscal 2012 has gotten off to a challenging start. The slowdown we saw in the first quarter is continuing into Q2, and delays in new product introductions into the very late part of August is leading to a lower than expected outlook in the second quarter.”

RIM has lowered its predictions for the full year and announced plans to “streamline operations” (which will include job cuts), and accelerate new product introductions. It has been almost a year since RIM launched a new BlackBerry, and the hype around teenagers turning to the BlackBerry for the BBM (BlackBerry Messaging) feature has clearly not been anywhere near enough to compensate for the loss in sales to iPhone and Android. In N. America, traditionally a BlackBerry stronghold, RIM’s share of sales in Q1 2011 fell to 16.5 per cent, compared to 41.3% in Q1 2010, according to Gartner.