BlackBerry to explore strategic alternatives BlackBerry has put itself up for sale as part of a wider strategic review to help the ailing Canadian handset maker in its battle for survival in the fiercely competitive smartphone market. In a sign of the failure to stem subscriber defections following the launch of its much heralded BlackBerry 10 devices, the maker of the once must-have device for the business world conceded on Monday that it needed to look at options for its future including a sale or alternatives such as joint venture. Battle for survival BlackBerry figures and market share Shares in the group, which had fallen by more than a third in the past month following a profit warning in June, gained 5 per cent to almost $11. At that share price the company is valued at about $5.3bn, a steep drop from a market capitalisation of more than $41bn just three years ago. BlackBerry was slow to react to the changes in the telecoms market, according to analysts. The first BlackBerry device was sold in 1999 - named after the fruit that most resembled its dappled keyboard - and by focusing on secure email and other messaging applications quickly became a favourite with the business world. As recently as last year, a survey found that almost two-thirds of companies in the UK supplied workers with BlackBerrys - but tellingly the same survey found that most of these workers also had their own smartphones. Likewise, while 77 per cent of Capitol Hill staffers said they owned a BlackBerry, only 1 per cent said they were planning to buy one in future. BlackBerry will set up a special committee chaired by board member Timothy Dattels to look at the options, with recent speculation suggesting that the group could consider partnerships with private equity groups or even separate its business into handset and services operations. A take-private deal akin to that of Dell would at least allow the group the benefits of rebuilding away from the public eye, according to analysts. They have questioned whether the turnround strategy of Thorsten Heins, chief executive, is working and if the company can stem continuing subscriber losses. Rivals such as China's Lenovo have also been linked with takeover interest in the past, although others such as Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and Huawei have been mooted as interested parties by analysts. However, bankers have privately warned that the value of its assets has dropped in the past year given BlackBerry's dwindling subscriber base and uncertainty over its intellectual property, and pointed to a worrying cash burn in its accounts. There is also a political angle given how embedded the devices are in governments. "While Lenovo would likely be the most willing buyer," says Jefferies, "we think the US government would block an acquisition due to national security concerns." Kevin Smithen, analyst at Macquarie Securities, warned that any sale needed to happen quickly given a core customer base in enterprise and government clients "who may now question [its] viability." He said that a sale might not be easy, however. Given high cash burn and large subscriber losses, we are sceptical that financial sponsors will be able to assign leverage in order to take the company private. "We are also sceptical that potential strategic buyers such as Lenovo, HTC or Microsoft would assign any value to the company's hardware business," Mr Smithen added. BlackBerry is still valued by many for its rugged physical keyboards even in a handset market now dominated by slim touch screens. However, it was the shift to such supposedly innovative devices based on an entirely new BlackBerry 10 platform that has caused recent investor worries as initial sales have proven disappointing. By the time the long delayed handset launched, many analysts said they lacked clear technological advantages to the myriad smartphones already on the market, a problem exacerbated by a platform with far fewer applications and services. Sales have been slow to take off in a market now dominated by cheap Android smartphones as well as Apple's popular iPhone, with Nokia and Microsoft looking to seize third place with their own relaunched Windows phones.