RIM shares rise on hopes of Samsung licensing deal

Shares of Research In Motion were up over 5 per cent early yesterday after a prominent analyst said the beleagured BlackBerry maker may look to license its new operating system to Samsung Electronics Co.

According to Jefferies & Co analyst Peter Misek, RIM's strategic review process, that got under way earlier this year, would see the Canadian company conclude that it needed to license BlackBerry 10, the operating system it was now in the process of developing.

"Given recent management comments in the press, it now appears that RIM is realizing what Wall Street has been saying for some time: they are a subscale manufacturer and desperately need a partner," Misek wrote in a research note on Tuesday.

"We believe RIM is attempting to revive discussions with Samsung regarding a BB10 licensing deal."

The system, dubbed BB10, would run a next-generation line of BlackBerrys expected to launch early next year.

It is widely held to be RIM's last hope of reversing BlackBerry's its steady downtrend in market share to Apple Inc's iPhone and devices running on Google Inc's Android operating system.