RIM's stock falls below $10 for first time since 2003

(AP) NEW YORK - Research In Motion's (RIM) stock fell below $10 on Monday for the first time since December 2003.

The decline in share price on Monday came as its rival Samsung Electronics said its new Galaxy S III smartphone will be launched by all four of the major U.S. wireless carriers this month.

RIM shares dropped 60 cents, or 5.9 percent, to close at $9.66.

The maker of the BlackBerry mobile device has steadily lost ground to Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone as well as phones that run Google Inc.'s (GOOG) Android software, such as Samsung's.

Shares of the U.S. smartphone market dropped from 44 percent in 2009 to 10 percent in 2011, according to the NPD Group.

Research In Motion Limited, based in Waterloo, Ontario, said last Tuesday that it expects to post an operating loss for the current quarter and will have to lay off a "significant" number of employees. The company has also hired a team of bankers to help it weigh its options. Thorsten Heins, the CEO, said the company is not actively looking to sell itself.

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