The Canadian company, which is battling unimpressive sales of its existing suite of products, has said the smartphones would be out in the second half of 2012.

Analysts view the launch, of what RIM has dubbed the BlackBerry 10, as a "make or break" event.

"We are ... more cautious on the timing and impact of Blackberry 10 Smartphones, which at best should arrive in the November quarter," analyst Tim Long said and cut his price target on the company's U.S. shares by $3 to $12.

"While we see some value in the subscriber base ... we struggle to see how it will be unlocked," Long said in a note to clients.

U.S. shares of the company were down 1 percent at $13.27 premarket on Wednesday.

RIM's shares have slumped 80 percent from a peak in February last year as the company misjudged the shifting landscape and botched the launch of the PlayBook, a poor-selling alternative to Apple's iPad tablet.

"Both ARPU (average revenue per user) and service margin will come under pressure in the next few quarters," Long said.

Long is rated five star by Thomson Reuters StarMine for the accuracy of his earnings estimates on RIM. StarMine awards the top 10 percent of analysts five stars.

RIM's U.S. sales have fallen for five straight quarters, as consumers embrace Apple's iPhone and high-end devices running Google's Android software. RIM will report its latest quarterly results on March 29.

(Reporting by Aftab Ahmed in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)

• A Permanent Economic Emergency