Though Research in Motion ^[1], maker of the BlackBerry, has struggled to distinguish itself recently against competing products like the iPhone and Android, the company is still in the good graces of major wireless carriers. RIM is favored among carriers who are looking for a dark horse in the smart phone market, a third candidate to keep the race between front runners Google and Apple competitive.

The carriers’ position defies the logic current among investors, which is that RIM has fallen too far behind Apple and Google to reassert itself. Critics of the company point to slumping sales and the fumbled introduction of the BlackBerry PlayBook.

RIM has been fostering ties to carriers since the company introduced the BlackBerry eleven years ago. “The carriers are looking for guard dogs to keep Apple down and keep Google down,” John Strand, a telecommunications consultant in Copenhagen, told The New York Times.

Read more at The New York Times ^[2].