The success of the iPhone has helped its rival BlackBerry more than double profits for its maker Research in Motion (RIM), by awakening the world to email-enabled smart devices.

Analysts say that Apple’s launch of the iPhone last June was a boon for RIM as the touchscreen handset raised the public’s awareness.

Bucking the economic downturn and beating analysts' expectation for profits and sales, RIM's net profit for the quarter stood at $412.5 million (£206.9 million), up from $187.4 million a year earlier. The Canadian firm saw revenue soar 102 per cent to $1.88 billion (£950 million) in the same period compared with $930.4 million last year.

Despite the popularity of Apple’s best-selling device, RIM still tops the league of smart phone sales. RIM said that it shipped 4.4 million BlackBerry handsets in the fourth quarter alone, bumping up total numbers to about 14 million for the 2008 fiscal year, and more than doubling sales of 6.4 million for fiscal 2007.

By comparison, Apple has said that it sold 2.3 million iPhones in the three months to December 29, and a total of about 4 million in the six months since the device's US launch.

Peter Misek, analayst at Canaccord Adams, said: “People are starting to realise, 'Why should I buy a [Motorola] Razr when I can buy a BlackBerry or an iPhone?' I think the iPhone was the single biggest blessing RIM ever had."

BlackBerry accounted for 41 per cent of all smart phones sold in the US in the fourth quarter, compared with the iPhone’s 28 per cent share, according to the Reading-based researcher Canalys.

After years of success in the big corporate market, RIM recently started targeting the consumer market. In a potentially worrying trend for Apple, RIM said that more than half its new customers last quarter were consumers and small business owners.

Price has also played its part, with discounts on its music-enabled Curve and Pearl BlackBerry handsets, which sell for about a quarter of the price of the iPhone, driving sales.

RIM added 2.18 million new subscribers in the fourth quarter, more than doubling figures for the same time last year and topping its own forecast of 1.82 million by as much as 20 per cent. Its total subscriber count is now close to 14 million, compared to 8 million this time last year.

Despite the global credit crunch, RIM's chief executive Jim Balsillie said that he sees no sign of a slowdown and expects to add a further 2.2 million customers in the next quarter. RIM has predicted revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 ending May 31, 2008 at between $2.23 and $2.30 billion.

Sales of smart phones, which allow users to surf the internet and send emails, have bucked a general slowdown in the saturated handset market. Last month handset maker Sony Ericsson was forced to put out a profit warning predicting as much as a 50 per cent drop in fourth quarter profits.

However, compared with a 13 per cent increase for handsets, global shipments of smart phones, including the BlackBerry, climbed 72 per cent in the fourth quarter to 35.5 million devices, with US sales tripling, according to Canalys.

Duncan Stewart, the president of the US-based Duncan Stewart Asset Management, said RIM appeared recession-proof.

"People may be spending less money on cars, they be spending less money on their houses, but it turns out the BlackBerry is the one essential," he said.

RIM earned $412.5 million, or 72 cents a share, in the three months ended March 1.

US-traded RIM shares rose $5.46, almost 5 percent, to $121.25 in after-hours trading yesterday after closing at $115.79.

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