Report: BlackBerry Could Go Private

From DailyTech: BlackBerry isn't having the easiest of times, and now rumors are saying that the Canadian company may look to go private. According to Reuters, BlackBerry may consider going private in an attempt to fix its problems outside of the public eye.

While Reuters did report that BlackBerry is in talks with private equity firm Silver Lake Partners (which is working on the Dell buyout), it mentioned that these talks currently revolve around a partnership in enterprise computing; not a buyout -- yet.

If BlackBerry doesn't end up going private, Reuters said some of its other options could be looking into other partnerships or even licensing its new BlackBerry 10 (BB10) operating system.

BlackBerry has had some hard times over the past couple of years, and it's taking a toll on the company's value. BlackBerry's shares have fallen more than 19 percent this year alone, and its market value has dropped to $4.8 billion -- a steep fall from $84 billion at its peak in 2008.

BlackBerry has had a tough time competing with the likes of Apple and Android-powered devices. BlackBerry has even been pushed aside in many corporate and government environments in favor of iOS and Android.

For instance, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) ditched their BlackBerrys in May 2012 in favor of iPhones while the Immigration and Customs Enforcement followed suit in September. In October, the Defense Department left its BlackBerrys behind and chose to go with Android and Apple devices instead while the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) left BlackBerry for a new fleet of iPhone 5s.

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