Research in Motion: Will the volatility continue?

There nearly hasn't been one day this past month that an analyst didn't decide it was time to opine on Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM). The BlackBerry maker made $400 million last quarter and is set to report earnings in line with consensus analyst expectations on April 2.

It had to contend with investors putting this top quality company on a higher level of expectations than many others. RIM's shares (see analyst debate) gained 11 percent year-to-date outperforming the Nasdaq. To compare, Palm Inc. (PALM) saw its shares soar over 186 percent year-to-date ahead of the Pre smartphone release. So what's going on?