In the last couple of days we‘ve been hearing rumours that Samsung might be leaning toward acquiring BlackBerry for around $7.5 bn. In some ways it really makes sense. Samsung‘s numbers are declining faster than they could have anticipated and could use BlackBerry‘s impressive host of patents to their advantage, while BlackBerry is struggling as a smartphone manufacturer and has actually been looking for a buyer for some time.
But yesterday, Samsung‘s J.K. Shin just came on record to confirm that there is no intent to acquire BlackBerry. The mobile lead did state, however, that the company wants to work with BlackBerry and develop the existing partnership. It all comes down to Samsung Knox security suite, which uses some BlackBerry technology.
BlackBerry currently owns around 44,000 patents, most focused on many security features, and which currently keep the company afloat. We‘ll see how this partnership benefits both companies going forward, as BlackBerry are in dire straits, and Samsung‘s Knox security suite isn‘t really making any waves.
Source: Wall Street Journal
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