Blackberry's board of directors has formed a committee to explore strategic alternatives for the future of the company that could include joint ventures or a sale of the company, as it struggles to turn its new BlackBerry 10 operating system into a success. The news comes after the company announced that it had shipped 6.8 million smartphones and recorded a US$84 million loss during the three months to June 1. Only 2.7 million phones running the new OS were sold, a figure that disappointed analysts.