Amazon, Nokia and Microsoft are reportedly evaluating their options to mak a bid for Research in Motion, as market value of the Canadian company is falling after a series of problems. Amazon looked at the viability of buying BlackBerry maker Research In Motion last summer, Reuters reported on Tuesday citing "people with knowledge of the situation".

The two companies have not made any official comment.

Nokia and Microsoft are also seen as candidate buyers of RIM, possibly in a joint bid. The Wall Street Journal used the phrase "flirted with the idea" to describe the move, indicating that the companies have not get much into discussions.

RIM?s current stock price is lowest in nearly eight years. Weak quarterly reports, poor sales of its PlayBook tablet, a lengthy service outage affecting millions of BlackBerry users in October, and delays to the launch of the BlackBerry 10 operating system have all taken their toll on RIM?s image.

Adding another twist to the tale is news that RIM has approached Samsung and HTC, offering them a license for the BlackBerry operating system.

None of the related companies have on the rumors.