BlackBerry may spin off BBM messaging service as a separate company to enhance value.
A ‘The Wall Street Journal’ report says the new subsidiary would be called BBM Inc. However, there are no immediate plans to spin off, Reuters said in another report.
Currently, BlackBerry promoters are considering outright sales and other options to revive the smartphone company.
Though BlackBerry is struggling to gain market in the global smartphone market, its revenue rose 9 percent to $3.1 billion in Q1 ended June 1, 2013. Revenue from APAC, which includes India, increased 35 percent sequentially. The smartphone maker reported a net loss of $84 million, indicating that BlackBerry 10 platform did not take off well.
The instant messaging service has about 60 million users who send billions of messages a day.
Apple, Samsung, LG, HTC, Sony and BlackBerry are the top smartphone makers based on market share in Q1 2013, according to Strategy Analytics.
BlackBerry, according to a Reuters report, has already reallocated internal resources and personnel to work exclusively on fine-tuning the BlackBerry Messenger service ahead of its launch on competitors’ devices.
BBM for Apple’s iPhone and devices using Google’s Android will be available to consumers in the next few weeks.
Recently, BlackBerry added video calling over Wi-Fi to enhance popularity of the instant messaging service.
The company has already announced plans for BBM Channels, which would allow advertisers to promote special deals or to target markets narrowly.
BlackBerry is also considering making BBM available for desktop computers.
Earlier, BlackBerry said it was looking into options for the company, which could include an outright sale.
