Research In Motion, maker of popular wireless communication device, BlackBerry, reported first quarter fiscal 2008 revenue of $1.08 billion and earnings of $223.2 million.

The revenue in the first quarter jumped 16.3% from the previous quarter and 76.5% from a year ago. The GAAP net income in the quarter was $1.17 per diluted share as compared to $0.98 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007.

The company reported above $1 billion revenue for the first time in a given quartet and shipped 2.4 million devices. The revenue in the quarter was approximately 76% from device sales, 16% from services, 5% from software and 3% from other revenues.

The company forecasted revenue in the second quarter to be between $1.3 billion and $1.365 billion. Subscriber new accounts in the second quarter are forecasted to be between 1.325 million and 1.375 million. In the first quarter company added 1.2 million new subscribers totaling to 9 million worldwide subscribers.

The company also announced a three for one stock split. The stock will be split on August 20th to shareholders on record on August 17th.

The company forecasted earnings post-split for the fiscal second quarter between 45 and 49 cents per share or on pre-split basis the earnings are expected to be between $1.37 and $1.49 per share.

The gross margin at the company has suffered in the last several quarters. The company reported gross margin of 51.8% in the first quarter of fiscal 2008, lower from 55.1% from a year ago and 53.5% in the previous quarter. However, net cash flow from operations jumped to $225 million in the first quarter from $99 million from a year ago.

The company earnings have growth for the six quarters in a row and jumped from 10 cents per share in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2005 to $1.17 in the first quarter of fiscal 2008.

The stock (RIMM: chart) jumped 17% in the after hours trading to $193 on the news. The stock in the last one year of trading has steadily climbed from $62 to $170 and for the year-to-date stock is up 30%.

BlackBerry is still in its early stage of market acceptance in Asia. China and Japan account for less than 5% of its sales and in the coming quarters sales in China are expected to accelerate.

Apple Inc (AAPL: chart) plans to launch its iPhone multimedia device in the U.S. tomorrow and plans to sell at least 2 million units this year and 10 million next year. Roughly 25% of BlackBerry users are small business owners and individuals who may find iPhone attractive. The stylish phone with camera, music player and video player is likely to find warm reception among tech enthusiasts and young executives. However BlackBerry sales show no sign of slowdown in the face of iPhone launch.