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TORONTO (Reuters) – Blackberry concern Research In Motion issued a weaker-than-expected outlook on weekday as it spends heavily on the start of its PlayBook tablet, sending its shares gymnastics as such as 12 percent.

While the river profession company's gain acquire jumped 32 proportionality and it shipped a solid number of its BlackBerry smartphones, investor tending turned to its less-than-rosy forecasts for the underway quarter.

RIM's acquire margins module verify a impact and the consort warned its earnings module woman shrink forecasts as it spends heavily to upkeep its operating system and inform its paper in a burgeoning mart created by Apple's iPad. The PlayBook is cod in U.S. stores on April 19.

"The Feb lodge was fine. The May lodge counselling -- sensational strength be too strong a articulate -- but it was rattling weak," said Matthew Thornton, an shrink at Avian Securities.

RIM made its name with secure, reliable communications for the world's playing and polity elites but today fights in a broader mart against the likes of Apple's iPhone and a slew of devices using Google's Android platform.

POTENTIAL DISRUPTION FROM JAPAN

The consort shipped 14.9 meg BlackBerry smartphones in the quarter. It has struggled to impress consumers in the competitive U.S. mart where it is steadily losing mart share.

RIM said it expected to acquire between $1.47 and $1.55 per deal in the underway lodge -- well below what analysts had forecast. It sees its large margin slippy to around 41.5 percent.

RIM said it gave a wider counselling arrange cod to potential disruption to RIM's supply concern in the consequence of the Asian seism this month.

RIM reportable gain acquire of $934 million, or $1.78 per share, for the business ordinal lodge ended Feb 26, on income of $5.6 billion, it said after the have mart winking on weekday .

Analysts, on average, had expected earnings of $1.76 per deal and income of $5.64 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

"Generally looks like Q4 was in line with expectations, Q1 is a little modify on EPS cod to research and development, along with sales and marketing related with the paper initiative," said Tavis McCourt, an shrink at Morgan Keegan.

Shares of the river consort plummeted 12 proportionality in after-hours Nasdaq trade to $56.20.

(Additional news by Euan Rocha, John Tilak, Susan Taylor; Editing by Frank McGurty)

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