I've long admired Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) for the simple reason that its BlackBerry technology, which "pushes" email messages to its wireless devices in real time, finally made personal digital assistants something meaningfully more than flashy pocket Rolodexes.

By so doing, RIM created a phenomenon now 700,000-users strong and growing faster than expected, according to a press release after last night's close. (My geeky roommate Kevin has dubbed it "Crackberry" because it's so addictive.) The company also said this morning that it meets more advanced security standards than before, which may make it more attractive to the government and corporate organizations that are already major users.

RIM is scheduled to report full results for the fiscal second quarter ended August 30 on September 25. Investors should continue to look past the numbers provided yesterday. After all, we got the what (revenue and net income forecasts better than previously expected on strong demand and "prudent expense management"), but we didn't get much of the why.

That why becomes increasingly important as RIM's subscriber base grows, as software and service provide recurring revenues and significantly higher gross margins than do device sales -- which actually fell in the last fiscal year. (This is very clearly illustrated in last year's annual report in the "Results of Operations" section beginning on page 11.)

RIM has other issues to deal with, most importantly an ongoing patent dispute with NTP Inc., which was discussed by Jeff Fischer in May. (Early last month, the company won a break when a judge shot down NTP's efforts to halt RIM's sales in the U.S.)

Thus far, however, early financial signs from the company are encouraging.