RIM to Be Putting Itself up for Sale

Rumor has it that the Canadian mobile phone maker Research In Motion plans on putting itself up for grabs, and that it has already kicked off the process.

Apparently, the leading handset vendor hired investment bank Goldman Sachs to look into various strategic options.

The BlackBerry maker has been long rumored to plan putting itself up for sale, but nothing has happened so far.

However, it appears that there are not too many options left for the handset vendor, following a series of quarters during which it lost market share and saw its profits drop.

Clearly, RIM needs to rethink its strategy for the smartphone market, and a sale could be one of the options. Other reports suggested that the company was considering the possible licensing of its upcoming BlackBerry 10 platform, but nothing has been confirmed on this for now.

According to analysts, it’s rather unlikely for RIM to put itself up for sale, since there are not too many companies that might actually afford to buy it.

"It's up on Goldman, but I wouldn't put too much on that," one trader stated, a recent article on foxbusiness reads.

At the moment, RIM’s BlackBerry OS is lagging behind Google’s Android platform and Apple’s iOS. However, the OS is expected to lose market share and to fall from top three in favor of Microsoft’s Windows Phone.

The Redmond-based company is one of the potential buyers for RIM, rumor has it. Last year, Microsoft said it had no plans to enter the hardware market on smartphones. However, since Apple already makes handsets and Google is in the process of acquiring Motorola, the company might have changed its mind.

Previously, Amazon was said to be interested in the purchase of RIM too. Now, RIM is said to have hired the said investment bank, but no new details on possible bidders have emerged.

Blackberry maker’s stocks went up 4 percent last week following the new speculations on it being up for grabs.