BlackBerry maker RIM hires banks for ‘review’

Stacey Vanek Smith: Research in Motion, the once high-flying maker of the BlackBerry, is in deeper water than analysts feared. The company warned investors yesterday it could report a loss in its first quarter and significant job cuts are in the works. RIM has also hired bankers for what it’s calling a “strategic review.”

Marketplace’s Amy Scott has more.

Amy Scott: RIM says its hired bankers from JP Morgan Chase and Royal Bank of Canada to help review it’s business.

Stephen Beck: It sends the signal of they’ve finally realized the sense of urgency that they’ve faced for many quarters.

Stephen Beck is a telecom consultant with CG42.

In the battle of the smart phone, BlackBerry is losing to the iPhone and Google’s Android. Beck says there’s only so much bankers can do for the company.

Beck: While at the end of the day they do need to, I’m sure, do some things to shore up their balance sheet, and the bankers are going to be very helpful for that, what they aren’t going to create the next new product that is going to help them get out of the situation that they’re in.

RIM is pinning its hopes on the new BlackBerry 10 handsets rolling out later this year, with a new operating system. But Beck says it won’t be a single product that saves the company. He says RIM needs to shore up its still-devoted base of customers who like the BlackBerry’s security features and then focus on what’s next.

I’m Amy Scott for Marketplace.