According to Reuters, Samsung has denied any interest in acquiring RIM or licensing their upcoming Blackberry 10 operating system. RIM's shares had risen more than 5% on rumors centered on Samsung's interest in RIM, driven by a report from Jeffries & Co. analyst, Peter Misek. As I stated in my previous article on RIM's licensing strategy, OEMs have very little motivation to consider such a deal.
Meritz Securities' analyst Lee Sei-cheol had the following to say about the speculated deal:
RIM has already lost its initiative in the smartphone market and what is left doesn't look really attractive to the likes of Samsung. Should they have a deep patent pool, that might be the most appealing asset to potential acquirers.At this point, RIM's patent portfolio looks like their only real shot of generating any value for their shareholders.
