After this year’s latest dismal financial report, BlackBerry announce earlier this month that it will be considering “strategic alternatives” that include joint ventures or the sale of the company. Analysts have speculated that BlackBerry may have to split up as a company to realize that ambition, as a few of its parts are certainly more valuable than the rest.

One of the more valuable initiatives BlackBerry still has is BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), and the Wall Street Journal today reported that the service may be spun off as its own entity. The report cites unnamed “people familiar with the matter” as saying a BBM, Inc. subsidiary is being considered by BlackBerry. The popularity of the messaging app has waned along with that of BlackBerry itself, but its worldwide

BlackBerry has reportedly made BBM a priority, placing key executives on the project to expand its capabilities. Some of the BBM service expansions mentioned by the Wall Street Journal include video chat and BBM Channels.

The BBM service will make the leap to non-BlackBerry smartphones and devices soon. The Journal report also mentions a possible BBM PC client, and states that earlier ports of the service for multiple platforms were prepared but ditched by BlackBerry executives. Samsung already announced earlier this month that its Galaxy lineup of smartphones will get BBM through the Samsung App store.

(via Wall Street Journal)

(Image courtesy BlackBerry)