Is RIM looking for a potential buyer? According to Reuters recent market rumours suggest Goldman Sachs is helping the BlackBerry maker "explore strategic options."

This is not the first time RIM takeover speculation is popping up-- last month Reuters reported Amazon was considering to buy RIM (before backing off) while the Wall Street Journal said Microsoft and Nokia were also planning to make a joint bid for RIM.

As one expects, RIM and Goldman Sachs are still to either confirm or deny the buyout speculation.

Of course, a company hiring an investment banker might mean nothing-- some companies hire banks before deciding to keep things as they were. Other analysts suggest RIM needs to stabilise its platform and handset offerings before hoping someone will spend an excess of $10 billion on an ailing purchase.

Go RIM Stock Up on Talk Blackberry Maker Hired Goldman (Reuters)

Go Amazon Weighed Buying RIM (Reuters)

Go Microsoft, Nokia Flirted with RIM (WSJ.com, subscription required)

Intel announces two mobile device partnerships at CES 2012-- one with Lenovo, the other with Motorola Mobility. The company has been long wanting to make progress in the mobile device processors, a field currently dominated by rival ARM.

Better known as a PC maker, Lenovo is branching into mobile devices. Not only tablets (of which Lenovo has a couple) but also smartphones-- the company reveals the first smartphone running on the Intel Z2460 processor (aka "Medfield"), the K800 smartphone.

Running on Android 4.0, the Lenovo K800 is a 4.5" device with a 720p TFT display, a WCDMA HSPA+ 21Mbps radio, wifi, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS and onboard WiDi allowing the device to sync to TVs. It should be start shipping in China in Q2 2012 before (presumably) heading towards the West.

The Intel CES booth also has a prototype Lenovo tablet running on a Medfield processor-- the IdeaTab K2110, a 10.1" Android 4.0 device.

Motorola Mobility is also joining Intel in a "multi-year, multi-device strategic relationship," and announces it will start shipping Medfield-powered smartphones from H2 2012. No actual devices are actually announced yet, but we should hear about them soon enough.

Go Intel Raises Bar on Smartphones, Tablets

Apple opens its massive wallet and buys Israeli flash memory maker Anobit for $500M, according to Reuters and the Calcalist financial daily.

While no official statement is yet available from the typically secretive Apple, further confirmation comes from an unlikely source-- the twitter account of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natenyahu, who says: "Welcome to Israel, Apple Inc. on your 1st acquisition here. I'm certain that you'll benefit from the fruit of the Israeli knowledge."

In addition to the purchase, Reuters says Apple is going to open an research and development operation in Israel, the first for the company outside the US.

The purchase makes sense for the company-- Apple is probably the biggest flash consumer in the world, using flash not only in mobile devices but also in data centres. Meanwhile Anobit works on solutions enhancing flash chip durability, including memory-signal processing and memory-processing error-correction algorithms.

Go Apple Buys Israel's Anobit for $500M (Reuters)

Go @IsraeliPM on Twitter Welcomes Apple

Intel confirms mobile business intentions and unites 4 separate business groups (Mobile Communications, Netbook and Tablet, Mobile Wireless and Ultra Mobility) into one unit under the Mobile and Communications Group (MCG) name.

The announcement comes via internal company memo, as reported (and later confirmed) by Fortune. 

Heading the MCG is Mike Bell, who worked at Apple (on the iPhone) and Palm before joining Intel in 2010.

The aim of the consolidation is, of course, to push mobile efforts-- the company wants Intel-powered smartphones on the market by H1 2012, and has an alliance with Google (announced las September) to get Android on Intel chips. Sometime. 

This is hardly the first time Intel had "serious" mobile plans. Back in 2009, Intel's Ultra Mobility group started a collaboration with Nokia to "shape the next era of mobile computing innovation." Amongst other things, the Intel-Nokia alliance involved the open source stillborn mobile OS, MeeGo. 

Two years later, we all know with whom Nokia truly started working. 

Will Intel manage to beat the current mobile chip champion ARM this time? It does have the resources and manufacturing capability-- Intel remains the biggest chip maker in the business. But some might say the company is already too late to invest in new low-power chips customers want to put in smartphones and tablets. We'll have to wait to see if the MCG will actually bear fruit. 

Go Intel's Emergency Maneuver in Mobile (Fortune)