BlackBerry board officially exploring sale of firm

BlackBerry has formed a special committee which aims to decide the future of the ailing smartphone maker.

The Canadian firm said the committee, made up of directors, will "explore strategic alternatives." The main aim is to try and generate cash by increasing the adoption of its BlackBerry 10 platform.

Committee members will evaluate all strategic options including joint ventures/partnerships and will even contemplate a sale of the firm.

BlackBerry CEO, Thorsten Heins said that the firm will continue with its strategy of "reducing cost, driving efficiency and accelerating deployment of BES 10" whilst the special commitee investigates alternatives.

BlackBerry had pinned its hopes on its newly launched BB10 platform, which went on sale at the start of 2013. However, sales of BB10 devices to date have been tepid, with the firm shipping 2.7 million units in the first quarter of 2013.

Despite Heins previously claiming the firm just needed more time to gain traction in the competitive smartphone market, it appears the board is losing patience. Last week, Reuters sources suggested that board at the Canadian firm was pondering taking the company private - a tip which proved to be correct.

BlackBerry is said to have approached private equity firm Silver Lake Partners about potential collaboration in enterprise computing.

Silver Lake is already involved in the increasingly messy $25 billion takeover attempt of Dell. It remains to be seen whether the private equity firm will get embroiled in another takeover so soon.