RIM's BlackBerry Winter

Research In Motion (RIMM Quote) is slated to discuss its fiscal third-quarter results later Wednesday, but the two topics at the forefront of investors' minds likely won't be the company's sales or earnings for the period.

Instead, analysts and shareholders are more likely to focus on a couple of issues that will have more bearing on the company's future: its ongoing patent dispute with holding company NTP and the outlook for subscriptions to its BlackBerry email service.

The Ontario-based company did not field questions from analysts after lowering projected subscriber growth numbers last month, says David Schamens, a partner with Invictus Funds. ...