Research In Motion could be a takeover target in the new year – at least according to a report from The New York Times.

Overall, it’s not been a good year for RIM. There were failures in service, questionable launches of new products, and the company saw lower market share, according to media reports. On top of that, shares of the Canadian company fell by a whopping 75 percent since February, media reports add.

Still, the company has close to 75 million users globally, according to news reports. And RIM saw earnings of $1.29 billion during the first nine months of the year, according to news coverage of the company.

To take over the company, investors would need something like between $10 billion and $13 billion, sources told The New York Times. Still, other online sources claim those amounts are too high.

One possible buyer is ZTE (News - Alert), a Chinese handset maker, says The Times. It is the fourth largest handset maker in the world.

Both Canadians and Americans could block such a deal, The Times adds. U.S. military and police officers favor BlackBerry (News - Alert) and would likely resist foreign ownership of the company – especially from a company based in China, The Times says.

Another possible buyer could be Microsoft (News - Alert) – but recent talks between the company and RIM went nowhere, The Times reported. Amazon and Facebook are also possible purchasers.

And the heads of RIM – co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie – are skeptical and reluctant about takeover deals, The Times says. Some investors, meanwhile, are skeptical of the two CEOs. It was also reported by TMCnet’s Monica Gleberman that RIM allegedly lied about why the company delayed its release of Blackberry 10 devices until late in 2012.

In the meantime, anxious investors could wait to see how BlackBerry 10 operates next year. According to TMCnet,  the devices will use RIM’s highly anticipated QNX operating system.