RIM recently hired JP Morgan and RBC to conduct a strategic review of the company, plus also find ways to leverage the “BlackBerry platform.” It’s been known that RIM is open to the idea of licensing their upcoming BlackBerry 10 OS to other manufacturers, but there has been no bites yet. The latest rumour was Samsung had some interest in RIM, but that was quickly shot down.
Back in January when Thorsten Heins became CEO he stated that “I will not in anyway split this up or separate this into different businesses. Now on the licensing piece. I’m absolutely confident that BlackBerry 10 will prove itself as a platform.”
Late last night Bloomberg added IBM to the potential suitors of RIM. They reported that “two people familiar with the situation” believe that RIM’s enterprise-services unit has attracted the interest of IBM and that they’ve made “an informal approach” about acquiring it. Something that goes against what Heins declared when he took office. In addition, although there is interest, Bloomberg also noted that “no talks are currently under way” as RIM is holding off until the BlackBerry 10 rollout in Q1 2013.
RIM and IBM have partnered up on several enterprise initiatives over the years, most recently was IBM’s Analytics for City Services and Safety (ACCESS) project.
Source: Bloomberg
MobileSyrup may earn a commission from purchases made via our links, which helps fund the journalism we provide free on our website. These links do not influence our editorial content. Support us here.
