RIM Shares Plunge Over Poor Earnings Projection

The maker of BlackBerry announced Thursday its earnings would slip as it spends on the launch of its PlayBook tablet computer.

Has Research In Motion entered a fight for its survival? As the company scrambles to keep up with competition from Apple and Android, low earnings projections sent its stock tumbling more than 10 per cent in European markets before the opening of North American trading Friday. RIM is expected to spend heavily on the launch of the PlayBook, its response to Apple’s iPad, and the expenditure, coupled with a disruption in its supply chain caused by the Japanese earthquake, has investors fretting over the health of the company. Analysts say RIM is facing an uphill battle to win back customers who have defected to competitors.