Shares of Research In Motion Ltd. gained close to six per cent Wednesday a day after the smartphone maker surprised analysts by announcing its subscriber base had grown by two million in the three months ending September 1.

Its stock closed with a gain of 38 cents, or 5.85 per cent, to $6.88 on heavy volume during a generally down day on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The rise also came in the face of what are expected to be dismal financial results Thursday, which were widely expected to show a sharp drop in sales and a loss.

The Waterloo, Ont.-based firm made its announcement in San Jose, Calif., during its update to application developers on the new BlackBerry 10 operating system.

BB10 is the cornerstone of the firm’s make-or-break bid to save itself with a new generation of completely re-designed devices.

RIM hopes to have the first of those in stores early next year in a bid to stem the loss of market share to Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android software.

The long delayed process of coming out with the new operating system has also hurt sales as BlackBerry customers hold off on buying current models while waiting for the new ones.