TORONTO - A visibly upset Mike Lazaridis, co-inventor of the BlackBerry, didn't like certain questions during a recent interview -- so he cut the BBC video short with repeated claims the reporter wasn't being fair.

The interview was part of Research In Motion's (TSX:RIM) promotion of its new PlayBook tablet, which hits Canadian stores on April 19.

In it, Lazardis protested several times that it was "not fair" for a reporter to ask questions about the well-publicized problems RIM has faced with governments in India and the Middle East.

The Waterloo, Ont.-based company prides itself on the highly secure communications offered to its corporate and government customers.

But some governments have pushed RIM to provide a way to monitor BlackBerry communications, citing the potential for the devices to be used by terrorists or other enemies.

BBC reporter Rory Cellan-Jones asks, at the beginning of the one-minute, 29-second video clip, whether the company's problems "were anywhere near being sorted out?"

Lazaridis looks off-camera and a woman's voice can be heard in the background saying: "Sorry Rory, that's..."

At which point Lazaridis interjects: "That's just not fair Rory."

The woman can then be heard saying: "We're really up on time. Is there another question you'd like to ask?"

But Lazaridis continues to address the reporter's question, first saying RIM and BlackBerry don't have a "security issue."

"We've just being singled out, because we're so successful, around the world," Lazaridis said. "It's an iconic product. It's used by business. It's used by leaders. It's used by celebrities. It's used by consumers. It's used by teenagers."

"We're just being singled out, just because of our success."

Cellan-Jones persists, asking again whether "that's all been sorted out now, that issue has been dealt with?"

"We're dealing with a lot of issues," Lazaridis replied. "We're doing our best to deal with the kind of expectations that we're under."

Cellan-Jones then takes a slightly different tact, asking whether Lazaridis is confident that he can tell customers they'll be able to use their BlackBerries with no problems.

"It's over. The interview is over," Lazaridis says curtly.

"You can't use that Rory. It's just not fair. It's not fair," Lazaridis says, his voice never rising nor falling. "You should turn that off (nodding at the camera). C'mon. This is a national security issue. Turn that off."

RIM's spokeswoman for North America, Marisa Conway, sent a brief email statement in response for a request for comment from Lazaridis or the company.

"RIM is on record with our approach to lawful access issues and there are no recent developments to report. Lawful access issues are now recognized as normal industry-wide issues and like others in the industry, we will continue to work with law enforcement and regulatory officials around the world as appropriate," the statement said.

Apart from the issues surrounding BlackBerry's encrypted messaging capabilities, the company has been grappling with a perception that it has lost its edge, technologically, in comparison with its competitors.

The company's often volatile shares have also come down considerably. They closed Wednesday at $52.79, up $1.16 for the day but down from $60.85 on March 14 and down from $73.80 on April 14, 2010.

RIM has continued to grow revenue and profit but its future growth seems to be slowing.

The BlackBerry maker said on March 24 that profit in its latest quarter was US$934 million, or $1.78 per diluted share for the quarter ended Feb. 26, compared with a profit of US$710 million, or $1.27 per diluted share a year ago.

Revenue in what was the company's fourth quarter of its 2011 financial year totalled US$5.56 billion, up from US$4.08 billion in the year-earlier.

But analysts were disappointed by RIM's outlook. The company, which reports in U.S. dollars, said it expected to earn between $1.47 and $1.55 per diluted share for its next quarter on revenue between $5.2 billion and $5.6 billion.

The average analyst estimate at the time, according to Thomson Reuters had been for a profit of $1.65 per share on $5.64 billion in revenue in what will be the company's first quarter of its 2012 financial year.