RIM May License BlackBerry 10 to Manufacturers, says CEO

Research in Motion, the company behind the once-popular BlackBerry, could possibly license the new BlackBerry 10 operating system to other manufacturers, such as Samsung or Sony, in an attempt to offset its recent financial troubles and compete with larger manufacturers.

According to RIM CEO Thorsten Heins, the company must explore options to get more budget smartphones into the market, which could mean building a reference system then licensing that design to other companies to build the hardware. Though it's too early for any details of whether those devices will be BlackBerrys or something else built on the BB platform.

In his own words:

"We don't have the economy of scale to compete against the guys who crank out 60 handsets a year. We have to differentiate and have a focused platform. To deliver BB10 we may need to look at licensing it to someone who can do this at a way better cost proposition than I can do it. There's different options we could do that we're currently uinvestigating."

Heinz went on to defend the ailing company, saying the platform is still growing and current difficulties are due to a once-in-a-decade change over to a new operating system, BlackBerry 10.

After two devastating financial quarters, the Canadian-based company is exploring all options. Though it will be interesting to see if manufacturers will want to build a BB 10 device.

RIM once held a dominant grip on the smartphone market, yet a reliance on aging platforms and a failure to innovate allowed for companies like Apple and Google to take over. BlackBerrys still have a strong presence in the enterprise field, thanks to its integrated emailing and messaging system.

However, with RIM delaying BB 10 until 2013, the platform may be a tough sell for the company.