BlackBerry (News - Alert), apparently, has been unable to find a buyer willing to pay the roughly $4.7 billion the company would have been willing to sell itself for.

In an unexpected move, the $4.7 billion deal to sell BlackBerry to a Canadian investor group lead by Fairfax Financial Holdings, which had until Nov. 4, 2013 to examine all of BlackBerry’s financial documents and finalize a bid, was cancelled.

Apparently, Fairfax Financial Holdings was unable to raise the money it needed to make the offer, and BlackBerry now will try to raise funds by selling $1 billion in bonds. But, it appears Fairfax will still be among the entities buying some of the new bonds.

Also, a new executive chairman is expected to be named, meaning BlackBerry, for better or worse, will remain an independent company.

Also, Thorsten Heins, BlackBerry CEO for about a year, has been fired, and at least some members of the board of directors also are going to be replaced.

Observers can reasonably conclude that there is no investor support valuing BlackBerry at $4.7 billion. But it is possible that the cancellation of the sale process means BlackBerry will try, at least for a time, to find a new and viable role in the marketplace, even if a future sale still remains possible.

To be sure, BlackBerry is in a tough spot, as new rival Windows Phone (News - Alert) seems to be gaining more traction.

Many analysts believe Windows Phone will emerge as the number-three most used smart phone operating system, and data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, for the three months ending September 2013, suggests there is evidence to support the thesis.

Windows Phone in the third quarter of 2013 got 10 percent of smart phone sales across five major European markets (UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain), and has overtaken Apple (News - Alert) iOS in Italy. As recently as early 2012, Windows had negligible smartphone market share. But IDC (News - Alert) forecasts Windows will have about 10 percent market share by 2017.

Precisely what BlackBerry can do, as an independent company, likely focused on enterprise customers, remains to be seen.