How long can Blackberry survive?

Evertiq has previously reported on the struggle that Blackberry (formerly RIM) has gone through and with the presentation of the 'Blackberry 10', the company changed its name from Research In Motion to simply Blackberry. When this happened, I considered this to be a sign of hope. A ray of light, an effort to start afresh, aggressively – as a brand. Sadly, this never really came to pass. The name change never really made any difference. Blackberry is – in fact - struggling to keep its market shares, not even mentioning any intention of gaining additions to them. Even though Blackberry saw record orders during March, the ship is still barely afloat. And right now; it's all hands on deck. To keep the ship from sinking under. So the question is, how long can they keep up? Blackberry has already stated that it is evaluating its options. These alternatives could include, among others, possible joint ventures, strategic partnerships or alliances, and even a sale of the company itself. Downsizing Not too long ago, Evertiq reported that Blackberry was going to slim down – laying off thousands of jobs by the end of the year. The layoffs will affect 40% of Blackberry's entire workforce – most likely in the shape of layoff waves – across all job functions. As of March, Blackberry employed roughly 12'700 people – and a 40% reduction of this kind of workforce would shrink the Canadian smartphone maker so something almost medium-sized. Is there really a reason for worry? In the beginning of the year, former CEO of Research in Motion Jim Balsillie sold off his stake in the company completely, which was nearly 5%. And now, the Wall Street Journal is coming with the information that, Mike Lazaridis the company's other co-founder, has reached out to private-equity firms about a possible joint bid for the smartphone maker. Lazaridis holds a 5.7% stake in the company. Sources were not named. Will we see the downfall of one of the pioneers of 'smartphone' technology? Or will we end up with a Dell / Dell carousel in reprise? My take on it? – Sadly, we're looking at a floundering sinking ship.