RIM said the lower expectations were due to smartphone shipments coming in on the low end of the 13.5 million to 14.5 million units it had forecast, and slower sales of high-end models compared to lower-price devices.

RIM's PlayBook tablet, on sale since April, faces an uphill battle, even though some reviews praised the user interface, based on software acquired when RIM bought QNX, a maker of operating systems for mobile devices. However, early reviewers also cited , including the lack of a built-in e-mail program -- the main feature that drew enterprise users to the company's iconic BlackBerry smartphone in the first place.

Delays of a touchscreen Blackberry Bold have not helped the company's case. Meanwhile other phones based on QNX are not due out until 2012.