BlackBerry may be thinking to spin off the BBM service into a separate company, the Wall Street Journal is reporting. The idea, according to the report’s author, is to allow BBM to function as a separate company that would offer clients for all popular platforms, not just the one made by the Canadian company. And something like that is already happening, with BBM for iOS and Android apparently coming soon, as that leaked user guide has proven.
Interestingly, the WSJ cites sources claiming that a multi-platform version of BBM was available internally as far back as three years ago, and there was also a desktop app, but the company decided not to release it.
Another idea would be to prove potential buyers that BlackBerry is more valuable company than what today’s media want us to believe. By creating a company dedicated to BBM, BlackBerry could prove that some of its divisions can bring real money to the potential buyer.
We don’t want to see BlackBerry dying. I personally believe they’re onto something with BlackBerry OS 10; it’s just that they’re facing the fierce competition that has much more resources (read: money) to invest. Needless to say, we’ll be watching this space carefully and get back to you as soon as there’s something new to add to the story. Stay tuned in the meantime…
[Via: TheVerge]