Ouch. Consumer electronics giants like Samsung (005930) typically stay quiet when it comes to market chatter, but Samsung has taken a different approach when the topic of discussion is struggling smartphone vendor Research In Motion (RIMM). BGR reported this past January that RIM was very interested in an outright sale at that time, and the company held extremely high-level talks with Samsung according to our source. Samsung issued a statement later that day however, saying that it had no interest in acquiring RIM.
Earlier this week, the idea of Samsung snapping up RIM or licensing its software reemerged — this time based purely on speculation — and RIM’s stock popped by as much as 14% as a result. But once again, Samsung has made it quite clear that it has no interest in acquiring RIM or licensing its BlackBerry 10 software. In fact, according to Reuters, Samsung has not even considered either move as a viable option.
With RIM CEO Thorsten Heins having gone on record in saying his company can’t compete with the big boys of the industry without outside help, and Samsung seemingly out of the picture, the question remains: Who might license RIM’s BlackBerry 10 platform and what happens to RIM if it can’t find any takers?
