BlackBerry, once the global leader in smartphone technology, has put itself up for sale after years of falling sales and failed revamps, says report. The smartphone, which once was seen as habit-former has suffered sharp decline globally in recent times as competition changed the face of Smartphone. However, early in the week, the company previously known as Research in Motion (RIM) announced the decision “explores strategic alternatives”.

While the company is scouting for buyers, the company could consider an option of going public as brand analysts expect a turnaround. Unable to match Apple’s iPhone for cool or the sheer range of devices from Samsung and others using Google’s Android mobile system, its market share has collapsed from close to 50 per cent in the US in 2009 to less than three per cent , according to figures released last week by the analyst IDC.

On the day the news broke, the Z10, BlackBerry’s latest, much-hyped device was being offered for $19.99 by US mobile retailer Wirefly as against $199 when it was launched earlier this year. For BlackBerry watchers, the news is no surprise. The company lost $84m in the last quarter and announced 5,000 layoffs last year.

“The beginning of the end started some time ago,” said Stuart Jeffrey, analyst at Nomura Securities. He said the company’s statement suggested it no longer had any confidence in its ability to get out its current predicament.

BlackBerry, he predicts, is likely to re-emerge as a software company, perhaps with some contracts for supersecure government devices, but “without the handicap of all those uncompetitive handsets”

http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/blackberry-up-for-sale/

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