5 Reasons Samsung Would Make A Buyout Offer To BlackBerry
Rumor Mill Churns
After Reuters reported that Samsung approached BlackBerry with a $7.5 billion buyout offer Wednesday , industry specialists speculated the smartphone company's motivation behind the possible move.
BlackBerry, however, released a statement Wednesday evening refuting the report of an offer from South Korea-based Samsung.
"BlackBerry has not engaged in discussions with Samsung with respect to any possible offer to purchase BlackBerry," said the statement. "BlackBerry's policy is not to comment on rumors or speculation, and accordingly it does not intend to comment further."
The situation has sparked discussion from various analysts and industry partners about what patents BlackBerry has to offer Samsung or any other company. Here are five reasons why BlackBerry could be an attractive buyout.
5. Ford Partnership
Some analysts point to BlackBerry's recent partnership with Ford as an avenue for potential buyers to dip their toes into the automobile market, which paves the way into the Internet of Things. Ford ditched Microsoft in December to announce its new link with subsidiary QNX, a BlackBerry-owned operating system.
"To be honest, this could be a nice little chess move by Samsung as a way to get into the connected car market, should it come to light," said devices analyst Jack Narcotta of Technology Business Research. "It may not be the driving force, but it could be an interesting wrinkle in Samsung's strategy."
"In general, I don’t see a buyout adding a significant amount of market share or revenue profit to any potential buyer in 2015," he added. "But what it could be is a beachhead for them in a new market."
4. Enterprise, Business-Friendly Products
"The 'cool' factor could play a part in this move," said Rick Jordan of Markham, Ontario-based Tenet Computer Group, a BlackBerry partner. "BlackBerry's releasing products that cater to business-friendly users, like the Passport and the Blackberry Classic. [Samsung's move] could be giving people what they want, while paying a very strong amount of attention to the business ecosystem and enterprise space."
BlackBerry offers an eclectic range of enterprise products targeted for business-friendly consumers, such as the enterprise communicator bundle, which includes BBM Meetings, a mobile conference tool hauling a variety of collaboration solutions, and BBM Protected, an enhanced security model for corporate messages.
3. New Moves For Samsung
Rumors of Samsung's play for BlackBerry parallel reports of the smartphone company testing the Windows Phone operating system's compatibility on its hardware.
Industry analysts point to the move as a way for the company to offset its declining smartphone market.
The reports come on the heels of declining sales for Samsung's feature phone and smartphone in the third quarter of 2014. According to research firm IDC, Samsung's worldwide market share fell to 23.7 percent in 2014 vs. 32.2 percent in 2013.
2. Partnership History
In November, BlackBerry and Samsung partnered to sell end-to-end security products for Samsung's Android Galaxy devices in a cross-platform solution called BES12.
Some analysts pointed to the partnership as an opening to a future buyout.
"When you see that high level of partnership between two companies, it's almost like a blind date to see if there's any possibility of a longer-term relationship, so I don't think this is completely surprising," said Charles King, an analyst with research firm Pund-IT.
1. Security And Wireless Technology Patents
Industry analysts point to BlackBerry's security and basic wireless technology patent offerings as the most obvious reason Samsung, and any other company, might take interest in it.
According to independent reports, BlackBerry's patent portfolio is worth between $2 billion and $3 billion. Just-released data from IFI Claims Patent Services, a patent-tracking firm, revealed BlackBerry was awarded 1,337 patents in 2014, ranking it No. 24 in the list of 2014 top 50 U.S. patent assignees.
"Security is a very good reason for the offer ... If you pay close attention to workers in the federal government, especially those in high levels of security, they continue to use BlackBerry," said Pund-IT's King.