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Takeover rumours, more delays for its new smartphone and stiff competition from other manufacturers have many wondering if Research in Motion's best years are behind it.

The Waterloo, Ont.-based company, which used to be the darling of the Canadian technology sector, took a drubbing in 2011 as its share price dropped along with its market share when a series of blunders forced many to ponder if it has lost its swagger in an industry that requires constant innovation.

And it disappointed investors even further recently when it announced that its next generation of smartphones -- the QNX-based BlackBerry 10 -- would not be on the shelves until late next year.

"We ask for your patience and confidence," co-chief executive and co-chairman Mike Lazaridis said during a conference call to analysts on Dec. 15. "We wanted to make sure the product we launch in the U.S. has the performance and battery life expectations that consumers are going to be expecting."

The company said the delay in launching the new device was caused by slow production of the chipset intended to be installed in BlackBerry 10-powered handsets, which will not be available until at least mid-2012.

This aggressive timetable leaves analysts skeptical.

"Even though they are saying late 2012, we think we should be braced for another possible delay because things can happen that nobody necessarily expects when you are trying to do an integration," said Troy Crandall, a technology analyst at MacDougall, MacDougall and MacTier in Montreal.

"It would require a certain amount of luck to get it out on time with such a rushed schedule."

RIM had been depending on the new QNX operating system to help it catch up to devices such as Apple Inc.'s iPhone as well as Google's Android-powered handsets.

The new RIM phones are expected to offer features users are clamouring for, including streaming video.

"RIM confirmed the BlackBerry 10 smartphones will be delayed until the latter part of calendar 2012. This could be game over for the BlackBerry franchise," National Bank Financial analyst Kris Thompson wrote in a note to clients.

Competitors edge ahead

The growing fear among analysts is that any delay in the handheld devices pushes the already troubled company further behind the pack in the smartphone race.

They contend that as the tech giant stumbles to perfect the much-delayed BB10, the other players have already advanced their products, leaving the new RIM product already outdated.

"The concern is that RIM will be playing continual catch-up and even when they do come out with a new device it will still be behind the times and seen as a dinosaur essentially in the technology world," Crandall said.

"A year in technology is like two or three in other industries, when they finally get this new device out next year the problem becomes that although the device now might be competitive with what's on the market, will it be competitive with what is on the market a year from now?"

In the meantime, analysts said RIM must depend on sales of its current line of phones -- running BlackBerry 7 -- to help stay in the game until it can launch the handsets running new software.

Holiday hopes dashed

But the company further surprised investors during its conference call when it warned that sales of BB7 would not be up to expectations during the key holiday period.

"Customers are not taking them up on their stop-gap measure and are going to something else, something other than a Blackberry," Crandall said. "Once you lose a customer it is hard to get them back."

Kevin Restivo, a mobile phone analyst at IDC in Toronto, said RIM must do a better job at promoting the stop-gap BB7 to keep customers satisfied until the new line is available.

"If RIM is to regain share and have a better 2012 than 2011 it needs to tell its BB7 story better to the U.S. buyers," he said. "But also the BB10 phones need to be released sooner rather than later and the longer that transition period stretches on the less margin for error RIM has and potentially weaker 2012."

The well-documented setbacks of the past year have severely damaged the company's share price as investors continually hang up on the troubled company. Its shares have lost almost half their value in the last three months alone.

Although analysts are not ready to give up on the company, their patience is growing thin, and patience is the one thing that company officials are begging analysts to have for a time yet.

But this might be the last chance for the beleaguered company.

"Obviously every year in this industry is a crucial year. It is a high growth area and that means a lot of potential for change. There is no question that every year and every quarter is crucial for a smartphone maker," said Restivo.

"It is still a relative young market and there is potential for growth. But there is a question of time and the longer this transition period continues, the less margin of error it has and the more potential it has (for others) to gain market share and make it harder for RIM to recover."

Those questions make the company an unfavourable takeover target too, despite reports of offers piling up. Stocks were lifted on the latest report that U.S. retail giant Amazon.com approached RIM to discuss a takeover. That move was rebuffed, however, as have past potential offers from Microsoft and Nokia.