“Research In Motion shares are trading higher Tuesday morning on a report that CEO Thorstein Heins said the company is mulling the sale of its hardware production unit, among other strategic options.
Now, I would note here that RIM has had a strategic review underway since last March. The company has vowed to consider selling all or parts of the business, and to seek out licensees for its BlackBerry 10 OS. So honestly, I don’t think there is any new information here – last June, for instance, The Sunday Times floated the idea that the company could sell or spin its hardware business. But the market obviously thinks it hasn’t heard this before. I would assert that the market has a collective case of amnesia.
Anyway, the report starts with an interview Heins gave with the German newspaper Die Welt, which was picked up by Bloomberg. A spokesman for the company told Bloomberg that the examples Heins cited were among the possibilities under consideration in a strategic review. Read between the lines: he’s not saying anything new.
RIM will unveil its first BlackBerry 10 phones on January 30….”
