TORONTO (AP) -- Research in Motion Ltd.'s fiscal third-quarter profit more than doubled on strong demand for its BlackBerry smart phones and related services by consumers and businesses.

The company's shares jumped nearly 10 percent after the earnings were announced Thursday.

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For the quarter ended Dec. 1, Canada-based RIM earned $370.5 million, or 65 cents per share, compared with $175.2 million, or 31 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

The company's third-quarter revenue rose to $1.67 billion from $835.1 million last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected earnings of 62 cents per share on $1.65 billion in revenue.

"It was really driven on stronger consumer volumes in December," said Peter Misek, an analyst with Canaccord Adams.

RIM said about 1.65 million BlackBerry subscriber accounts were added during the quarter and more than 3.9 million handsets were shipped.

In its fourth fiscal quarter, RIM expects earnings of 66 cents to 70 cents per share on revenue of $1.8 billion to $1.87 billion.

Shares added $4.86, or 4.8 percent, to close at $106.99 in Thursday trading. It jumped 9 percent to $116.57 in the after-hours session.

"RIM's performance in the third quarter was solid with strong adoption of BlackBerry products and services continuing across multiple market sectors, including enterprise, small and medium business and consumer market segments," co-CEO Jim Balsillie said in a statement.

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