UPDATE 2-Salesforce.com profit rises, lifts 2009 estimates

(Adds analyst expectations, background, share prices, byline)

By Amanda Beck

SAN FRANCISCO, May 21 (Reuters) - Web business software maker Salesforce.com Inc (CRM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) on Wednesday reported a rise in quarterly profit and raised full-year earnings forecasts, boosted by a growing number of customers adopting its online applications.

Shares of Salesforce, whose stock has risen 19 percent since it last reported results on Feb. 27, fell 1 percent in after-hours trade on expectations of a blow-out quarter.

The company reported first-quarter net income of $9.6 million, or 8 cents per share, up from $730,000, or 1 cent per share, in the year-ago period. Revenue rose 52 percent to $247.6 million from $162.4 million a year earlier.

Analysts, on average, had forecast earnings of 7 cents per share on revenue of $235.7 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

Like other Web start-ups, the company is challenging established software companies including SAP AG (SAPG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Oracle Corp (ORCL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) with a new technology model called "cloud computing."

It arrays large numbers of data center computers, enabling them to deliver Web-based applications to far-flung users, while traditional software runs on a user's local hard drive.

Salesforce has already signed major customers including Citigroup Inc (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Dell Inc (DELL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to its online platform of software applications. The company said it increased its customer base by 6 percent in the first quarter.