RIM approached by IBM over possible sale of Blackberry's plum email software division

London, Aug 11 (ANI): Research in Motion (RIM) has reportedly been approached by American tech giant IBM, for buying the division responsible for its popular corporate email server software, which is seen as one of the remaining strengths of the struggling Canadian BlackBerry maker.

The enterprise services division is viewed as RIM's most valuable operational asset, as many IT departments still favour the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which is the software that delivers emails to millions of 'suit pockets', and has superior security features over other softwares.

According to The Telegraph, RIM chief executive Thorsten Heins has said that he would prefer to find a partner or license RIM's system to other manufacturers, rather than pursuing a sale.

Analysts have estimated that the enterprise services division of RIM is worth between 1.5 billion dollars and 2.5 billion dollars, and news of a potential bid from IBM reportedly boosted RIM shares by 9 per cent in early trading.

As well as launching the new operating system, BlackBerry 10, RIM is rushing to complete development of a new range of handsets, the paper said.

Earlier, Heins had said that manufacturers such as Sony or Samsung could license the new BlackBerry operating system, the paper added.

IBM and RIM both declined to comment on the issue. (ANI)