BlackBerry maker Research in Motion is bucking the down-turn, recording its strongest ever Christmas season sales and dramatically raising its fourth quarter outlook.

“We have enjoyed our best ever start to the holiday buying season over the past few weeks," the company says in a media statement, crediting brisk sales of the BlackBerry Bold and touchscreen BlackBerry Storm (left) for its robust numbers.

RIMM’s third quarter results announced today were in line with previously lowered guidance, with $US396 million profit or 69 cents a share on $US2.8 billion revenue.

The company had a net gain of 2.6 million BlackBerry subscribers during the quarter.

Sales were constrained by supply problems during the third quarter as many customers had to wait weeks for the BlackBerry Storm, RIMM’s answer to Apple’s iPhone.

But with those issues now addressed, RIMM says it has "entered the fourth quarter with strong momentum”, and has upped its to $US3.5 billion to $US 3.6 billion revenue and profit of 83 cents to 91 cents a share.