Research In Motion (RIM) is facing another rumor about its future as it fights to pull its struggling BlackBerry operating system from the brink of obsolence.
The latest report comes from The Sunday Times of London which claims RIM is considering splitting apart its handset business and network division. The enterprise-focused messaging and data network could be licensed to outside firms or divested, according to the report.
Potential buyers include Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Google, the publication stated, or RIM may choose to continue as a single entity and sell a stake to a company like Microsoft.
BlackBerry’s share of the global smartphone market has plunged amid competition from Apple’s iPhone, and smartphones running on Google’s Android operating system. BlackBerry currently holds just 6 percent of the market, a fraction of Andoird’s 61 percent share and the 20 percent held by iOS, according to recent numbers from IDC.
RIM could not be reached for comment, but told Time that it has “hired advisers to help the Company examine ways to leverage the BlackBerry platform through partnerships, licensing opportunities and strategic business model alternatives.”
Shareholders have pressured RIM to sell itself off or divest key assets like its patent portfolio.
The latest grim news from RIM will be handed down Thursday, when the company announces financial results for its 2013 first fiscal quarter. The company lost $125 million during the fourth quarter on a 20 percent decline in sales.
Filed Under: Devices
