Even though it has released the BlackBerry Storm phone, device maker Research In Motion is noticing the economic storm. On Tuesday, the company has decreased its outlook for the current quarter, which caused its stock price to move down. The company did state that the demand for the Storm was expected to continue with strong sales in the next quarter, which began Monday.

In September, the company had estimated earnings of between 89 cents and 97 cents per share on sales of $2.95 billion to $3.1 billion, and some financial analysts had been projecting even better numbers. But now RIM expects earnings of 81 cents to 83 cents per share on revenue of between $2.75 billion to $2.78 billion.

RIM also announced new BlackBerry accounts of about 2.6 million. While nearly 60% higher than the previous year, this was a decrease compare to the 2.9 million the company was projecting. RIM stated that its best day ever for new BlackBerry accounts was November 21 when the Storm was released in the US.

RIM’s reduction in sales forecasts comes shortly after its successful release of the BlackBerry Storm. The Storm offers a touchscreen that depresses slightly when the user touches and, on release, there’s a click sensation comparable to a regular keyboard.

When the Storm was first released only by Verizon Wireless, there were reports of lines out the doors of many of the Verizon’s stores. The demand was so high that supplies were quickly depleted, and some observers have estimated that as many as 120,000 units were bought in the first weekend, with another quarter-million orders made on the Internet or for later fulfillment in the store. For many, this craze was reminiscent of the Apple’s iPhone launch.

Some experts remarked that, while many comparisons were made between the Storm and the iPhone, a key difference remains between RIM and Apple. That difference is the the basic market RIM products still remains business users, while the progressively business-friendly iPhone is still mainly targetted at consumers.

Because the economy is down, business handsets are affected directly. The 2 largest handheld makers, Nokia and Samsung Electronics, have additionally projected lower sales. LG, the fifth-largest handset maker, has also stated its growth will be cut back in the coming year.