Shares of Research In Motion (RIM), maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, rose 7 percent to just above $7 Wednesday as investors bet the company's fortunes are starting to improve.
The struggling Canadian company is due to issue its quarterly results on Thursday and analysts had expected RIM to start losing subscribers for the first time in its history.
Instead, RIM announced at a developer event on Tuesday that its subscriber base had grown by 2 million in the quarter that ended Sept. 1. RIM also cheered investors by disclosing that its new devices will go on sale in early 2013.
RIM revolutionized the mobile industry with the once-ubiquitous BlackBerry. It is racing against time as it tries to launch a new line of smart phones while struggling to remain afloat.
Shares of RIM are down 90 percent since hitting a recent peak in February 2011.
A one-time darling of Canada’s technology industry, the company has faced declining market share and revenue in recent years as Apple’s iPhone, and smartphones that run Google’s Android software, have gained popularity.
The Canadian company is pinning its recovery hopes on the launch of the Blackberry 10 -- the next-generation mobile platform that will power a suite of new smartphones and is due for release in the first quarter of 2013.
RIM’s Chief Executive Thorsten Heins offered a preview of the devices to developers at an event on Tuesday in San Jose, Calif. TD Securities analyst Scott Penner, who was at the event, said the devices received a generally positive reception.
Reuters contributed to this report.
