Samsung Is Not Interested in RIM, BlackBerry
Samsung has denied rumors about a potential buyout of Blackberry maker, Research in Motion after a technology blog reported the South Korean firm was interested in buying RIM.
Samsung spokesman James Chung told Reuters that his company has not "considered acquiring" the struggling Blackberry maker and is not considering the acquisition of RIM. He added that neither company is in talks about an acquisition deal.
Rumors surfaced Tuesday after technology blog Boy Genius Report stated that Samsung was interested in the Canada-based smartphone maker. According to an unnamed source, RIM CEO Jim Balsillie was meeting with companies that are interested in acquiring all or part of RIM and was courting Samsung. BGR said that Samsung was offering between $12 billion and $15 billion for a full sale.
News about a possible sale benefitted RIM as shares jumped more than 10% Tuesday. Unfortunately for RIM the rumors were immediately shot down by Samsung. RIM could be considering other options aside from selling to buoy the free fall the company has been experiencing. RIM's share of the smartphone market dropped throughout 2011 to just 6% in October and November according to data from the NPD Group. Its stock dropped 73% last year and sales of its Playbook tablet have been mediocre at best.
Research in Motion could be considering licensing its QNX-based BlackBerry 10 software which other manufacturers could be more interested in rather than an outright sale of RIM. Even though Samsung has said that it wasn't interested in the rumored software licensing deal other manufacturers like HTC might consider licensing BlackBerry 10. Smartphone makers using Android could opt for Blackberry after Microsoft won royalty agreements from those companies using Android. Licensing RIM's software could also give any Android phone an edge.
"If Samsung or any other Android partner were to integrate RIM's enterprise services like Blackberry Messenger into their offering, they would achieve instant differentiation in the increasingly monochrome Android space," Frost and Sullivan analyst Craig Cartier told Reuters.