RIM purportedly shopped by Microsoft and Nokia, talked with Samsung / HTC about licensing

Tomorrow's headlines: local florist and rural farmer consider purchase of RIM, or at least the "In Motion" part. Hot on the heels of a report suggesting that Amazon was at least considering a purchase of Canada's famed BlackBerry maker, in flies a separate report suggesting... well, all sorts of insane things. For one, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Microsoft and Nokia "flirted with the idea of making a joint bid" for RIM in recent months, with the status of the talks today being "unclear."

Of course, the fact that these talks are even ongoing says a lot about the internal happenings at the company, and with co-CEO Jim Balsillie recently suggesting that "no stone" would be left unturned in a bid to turn the corner, it doesn't take a professional Between The Lines reader to make sense of it all. Crazier still, two other folks "familiar with the situation" have said that RIM executives have "approached other smartphone makers, including Samsung and HTC, about licensing RIM's new operating system," presumably BBX BlackBerry 10. If anyone else decides they too are interested in having a talk with these guys (read: it's highly likely), we'll be sure to let you know.