Microsoft, Apple and Lenovo, among others, had expressed interest in acquiring parts of Blackberry, according to people familiar with Blackberry's board discussions. However, Reuters reports that BlackBerry's board did not believe a break-up of the Canadian smartphone maker was in its best interests.

It seems that the main interest in Blackberry was related to the company's intellectual property and patents.

BlackBerry had also held discussions with Cisco, Google and Chinese computer maker Lenovo, among others, about selling all, or parts of itself.

BlackBerry on Monday announced it by abandoned plans to sell itself, naming a new interim chief executive, and announcing an $1 billion convertible notes issue to a group of investors including its largest shareholder Fairfax Financial Holdings, Canso Investment Counsel, Mackenzie Financial, Markel Corp, Qatar Holding and Brookfield Asset Management.

Towards the end of BlackBerry's review of strategic alternatives, a consortium comprised of BlackBerry founders Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin, Cerberus Capital Management LP and mobile chip giant Qualcomm had also expressed interest in the company.