In May of 2012 Blackberry, formerly Research In Motion or RIM, had hired investment bankers J.P. Morgan Securities and RBC Capital Markets to aid in reviewing its business and financial performance. Even back then the company executives knew that every avenue to rescue Blackberry needed close inspection. This included the grim option of selling off the company. However, by creating a spin-off division with potentially enough valuation, such as the possible BBM Inc., could help prolong the inevitable for Blackberry.
This also may explain why Samsung, despite having its own in-house messaging service, would be keen to sign a deal that included the Blackberry messenger on their GALAXY line of smartphones. Samsung has a tendency to help out ailing competitors. Naturally only when there is something extraordinary benefiting Samsung. Would anyone else want to see yet another reason for an iOS user to switch to Android?
BBM Bait and Switch
Samsung already offers iPhone users several tools to help migrate from iOS to Android. Adding a cross-platform messenger to their arsenal would certainly appeal to security minded IT and business users. As stated to the Wall Street Journal by a Blackberry spokesperson, “People are also becoming leery of how they share their personal information and mobile communication services need to be built for that. They are also looking for a simple, customizable interface and BBM brings that.”
Let us also not forget that there is somewhere around 60 million worldwide Blackberry subscribers. For BBM Inc to reach a potentially high valuation, BBM for Android and iOS would need to add at least another 60 million users in order to compare to the likes of Whatsapp and WeTalk. A buyout from Samsung would certainly bolster both companies. Blackberry would have the capital to keep trying their hand at new hardware and Samsung would have a software presence on three mobile Operating Systems as well as a large subscriber base.
For the sake of innovation and real mobile tech advancement, let’s hope that these tell-tale signs of what could-be do in fact come to pass. I for one would like to see Blackberry stay in the race providing more options and greater competition in the mobile world. And it wouldn’t hurt if Samsung improved their own software portfolio in the process.
You can read more about the new deal between Samsung and Blackberry on Pulled Samsung Ad Reveals BBM for Samsung Galaxy Devices.