Shares in Canadian smartphone manufacture Research In Motion (RIM) reached a 13-month high on Monday, a week before the firm launches BlackBerry 10.
Toronto-listed stock prices for RIM were up as much as almost 18 per cent on Monday, following comments by CEO Thorsten Heins that suggest the BlackBerry operating system could be licensed out to another mobile device manufacturer.
Further reading
BlackBerry returns from the dead BlackBerry 10 SDK goes gold as images of upcoming smartphone appear on web Another US agency drops BlackBerrys in favour of iPhones
RIM's share price closed at 17.41 Canadian dollars (£11.08) at the close of play on Monday, almost a dollar down on the C$18.40 (£11.700) high recorded in early afternoon. Nonetheless, stock in the Canadian firm closed the day almost 11 per cent higher than the C$16.62 (£10.57) figure at which it began.
Prices are listed in Canadian dollars because the American NASDAQ stock exchange was not trading due to the Inauguration Day public holiday.
While shares in RIM have received a boost in recent months, up almost three-fold since a record low in late-September, it's still almost 90 per cent lower than the all-time high of over $150 in September 2008.
However, there's some positivity around the firm ahead of the BlackBerry 10 launch, with Goldman Sachs upgrading RIM's share rating to buy at the end of November.
BlackBerry 10 is officially launched on 30 January, with some of RIM's next-generation devices brandishing new features including a touchscreen and a larger display - much like that of the Apple iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S III.
RIM has held a number of port-a-thons over the past few weeks to enable developers to port apps to BlackBerry 10. Due to the volume of applications, RIM have extended the deadline its $10,000 Developer Commitment prize to 21 February.
Computing went hands-on with BlackBerry 10 towards the end of last year, with RIM telling us the new devices have been designed specifically with Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) in mind.
"We did it because one of the biggest trends we're seeing is the consumerisation of IT and that's what we've built BB10 to support," said Jeff Holleran, senior director of enterprise product management.
RIM will be hoping that its new OS can counter the rise of Apple and Android devices in the work place.
