Shares in Research In Motion are sharply higher amid a new report that the BlackBerry maker is considering selling all or parts of the company.
The report, from The Boy Genius Report blog, which closely follows RIM, says South Korean electronics giant Samsung is the frontrunner among possible bidders for assets of the Waterloo, Ont.,-based maker of smartphones and other products.
The Boy Genius Report also says RIM is currently in talks to license its software to other vendors.
It says one of RIM's biggest assets is its BlackBerry Messenger instant texting service, which would allow Samsung to differentiate itself from the Android operating system that it uses in its smartphones.
Shares in RIM, which has been the subject of takeover or sale rumours for months, were up 61 cents at $17.47 in afternoon trading after been up more than 75 cents in earlier trading.
.