Lenovo Eyes RIM As Potential Acquisition Target

Speaking with Bloomberg News at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Lenovo Chief Financial Officer Wong Wai Ming said the fast-growing PC maker is looking at a variety of acquisition options but mentioned RIM in particular.

"We are looking at all opportunities -- RIM and many others," Wong told Bloomberg.

[Related: RIM Receives 15,000 New Apps For BlackBerry 10 In Three Days ]

According to the Bloomberg report, Wong said Lenovo has talked with RIM and its bankers about a potential acquisition or strategic venture possibilities.

Lenovo's PC business has been stellar over the last three years, but the company has struggled to make an impact in the mobile device market outside of China. Lenovo has made some smaller acquisitions recently, including the purchase of cloud software maker Stoneware in September and a $147 million deal for CCE, a leading Brazilian manufacturer of PC, smartphones and tablets. But, Lenovo has yet to make a big splash in the smartphone or tablet market in North America.

The disclosure from Lenovo comes at a pivotal time for Research In Motion, which has been mounting a comeback recently. After years of declining market share in the face of the iPhone and touchscreen Android phones, RIM revamped its BlackBerry hardware and will release its much-anticipated BlackBerry 10 operating system next week. As a result, RIM's stock price has improved nearly 50 percent over the last year.

PUBLISHED JAN. 24, 2013