RIM, the once thriving company that produces BlackBerrys, is beginning the descent into bankruptcy. To prevent such a fate, Research In Motion has decided to find a financial adviser – and JPMorgan appears to be the front runner currently. In fact, they are likely to be named the adviser within the next couple of days.

RIM’s reported decision to bring on a financial adviser has everything to do with their saddening fourth quarter – the firm lost over $125 million, down from the near billion gain they saw only last year. RIM also reported that the sale of the BlackBerry phone was down to 20% of its former sales, clocking only 11.1 million shipped united this year.

In other words, it’s very clear that RM needs substantial change, and fast. This substantial change may be coming in the form of licensing their technology of the BlackBerry mobile OS to third-parties, and only then would they turn to a strategic investor to help boost cash flow. However, Jim Balsillie, former co-CEO of RIM, brought up a different idea at the end of last year when things were already beginning to look bleak. There have been talks of allowing major wireless carriers like AT&T and Verizon to offload their traffic onto RIM’s already extensive network. There is definitely a demand for data and its beginning to overwhelm even the biggest mobile carriers, so this move may help RIM increase their revenue and reduce the reliance the company has on phone sales.

However, according to Reuters, the current company owners believe that the future of BlackBerry is in their 10 handheld devices and only they will bring success back into the company.

But many people, including investors in the company, side with Balsillie. An investor late last year even said the future of the company is in breaking it apart or selling off its hardware business to a company more capable of handling it. "Everybody is in support of a sale of RIM or another value-creative transaction," Jaguar CEO Vic Alboini said last year in an interview with Reuters. "Like splitting the company into separate public companies--a network company, a device company, and a patents company."

Whatever needs to happen needs to happen soon – shares are down 75% of their once worth, and the bottom does not seem yet to even be in sight.