Just a few weeks ago, BlackBerry Chief Executive Thorsten Heins forecast the death of the popular tablet as he pushed for the newly launched smartphone models Q10 and Z10.

It seems that Mr Heins would eat his words for it is the company he is leading that is on the throes of financial death.

On Monday, BlackBerry's board of directors set up a special committee to study all options available to the floundering Canadian tech firm, including selling the company once known as Research in Motion.

Ahead of the planned sales, shares of BlackBerry were halted in pre-market trade in the U.S., while a major shareholder - Prem Watsa of Fairfax Financial - announced plan to leave the company board due to potential conflict as BlackBerry looks for other options.

Making up the special committee are Mr Heins, Barbara Stymiest, Richard Lynch, Bert Nordberg and chaired by Timothy Dattels.

Mr Heins insisted that BlackBerry continues to see compelling long-term opportunity for the company due to its exceptional technology that customers love, strong balance sheet and progress in the company's transition.

Although its trading was halted, news of the special committee formation led to a 9 per cent boost in BlackBerry shares in the Nasdaq Stock Market in New York, rising to $11.13 per share, up from its 52-week low of $6.10.

Despite the slight lift, Globe and Mail's Michael Babad, in his Business Briefing column on Monday, expressed doubt if a BlackBerry sale would bring back the price of the company's shares to its peak of $140.

BMO Nesbitt Burns analyst Tim Long, quoted by Mr Babad, agreed, explaining that "While a change in structure could result in a higher stock price in the near term, we do not envision any changes that would help BlackBerry reverse the significant smartphone share loss of rapid decline in service revenues."

Latest International Data Corp report supports the analyst's contention since the Waterloo, Ontario-based tech firm is only in fourth place insofar as market share is concerned, accounting for only 3 per cent after it sold 6.8 million gadgets in Q2 of 2013.

Commenting on this development, IDC said, "BlackBerry saw its market share decline during the quarter, reaching levels not seen in the history of IDC's Mobile Phone Tracker."

While IDC's said it is too early to write off the comebacking company, it said Blackberry "will need time and resources to evangelize more end users."

However, tech observers are asking does BlackBerry have the luxury of time as other smartphone manufacturers such as Samsung, Apple, HTC, Sony and even Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE grab larger shares of the global smartphone market.

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