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BlackBerry maker RIM to possibly divide company: Update

Well now, most will know that BlackBerry smartphone maker Research In Motion hasn’t been having that good a time in the mobile space lately, with the Canadian company losing market share to such rivals as Android and iOS, and RIOM has been pinning their hopes of grabbing back lost market share once their release their upcoming BlackBerry 10 devices.

However, it would appear that Research In Motion may not continue in the mobile space as the company we have all come to know. According to the guys over at Phone Arena, by way of Reuters, The Sunday Times is reporting that RIM is considering splitting their business into two.

The two parts would be Research In Motion’s struggling smartphone making division, whilst the second part would be RIM’s popular BlackBerry Messaging service, and if or when RIM decide to split the two, the Canadian firm would then consider selling on the manufacturing part.

Apparently RIM hired investment banking firms RBC Capital and JP Morgan last month to go over the company’s strategic options, and apparently the report names both Microsoft and Facebook as potential purchasers, and that Research In Motion’s messaging network could also be opened to rivals such as Android and iOS, or even sold.

Although another option is to keep the company together, and sell a stake in the whole firm to a larger tech company such as Microsoft. Not too sure how factual all this is, as the news paper didn’t cite any sources, but as soon as we hear more we will of course pass it along.

UPDATE: RIM has hired advisers to help the Company examine ways to leverage the BlackBerry platform through partnerships, licensing opportunities and strategic business model alternatives. As Thorsten said on the Company’s fourth-quarter earnings call, ‘We believe the best way to drive value for our stakeholders is to execute on our plan to turn the company around.’ This remains true.”

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