Research in Motion (RIM) could challenge Microsoft and Google by licensing out its latest BlackBery 10 operating system to mobile device makers.

The company's CEO, Thorsten Heins, revealed in an interview with with German paper Die Welt, that RIM is looking at various possibilities as it attempts to fight back against the rise of Android and Apple handsets.

"Before you licensed the software, you must show that the platform has a large potential - first we have to fulfil our promises," said Heins. "If that proves successful, licensing is conceivable."

RIM is pinning its hopes on its revamped operating system, BlackBerry 10, which will feature on a range of new handsets out at the end of the month.

The Canadian company was once a pioneer in smartphones, but has struggled to hold on to market share with the rise of Apple's iPhone and devices using Android.

Android in particular, has been a massive success for Google, with handsets sold by the likes of HTC and Samsung now making up 75% of the entire global market, according to research firm IDC.

This has come at the cost of RIM, whose share of the smartphone market has dropped to 4.3% at the end of Q3 2012 from 9.5% in 2011.

Heins had hinted at licensing BlackBerry 10 as recently as last August, when he told Britain's Telegraph news site that the company doesn't have the economy of scale to produce multiple handsets a year like its rivals.

"To deliver BB10 we may need to look at licensing it to someone who can do this at a way better cost proposition than I can do it," he said. "There's different options we could do that we're currently uinvestigating."

RIM's newest handsets featuring the new BlackBerry operating system - BB10 - are set to launch on January 30. The company has promised that tens of thousands of new apps will be available for the platform on release.