IBM 'considers buying RIM's BlackBerry server unit'

However, no talks were currently under way, Bloomberg claimed, citing two unnamed sources.

RIM virtually invented mobile email with its first BlackBerry devices more than a decade ago, but its market share has evaporated as consumers have flocked to Apple's iPhone and devices based on Google's Android system. RIM has lost more than 70pc of its market capitalization in the past year alone.

On Thursday, South Korea's Samsung said it has not considered acquiring RIM or licensing the embattled BlackBerry phone maker's new mobile operating system, despite an earlier report from an influential analyst floating the idea.