Reports that Samsung Electronics has approached BlackBerry briefly sent the battered smartphone maker's stock soaring. Any deal is far from done and BlackBerry denied it, but the possibility does raise the question: Why would Samsung want to acquire BlackBerry? Yes, the Korean conglomerate would get a robust suite of patents, BlackBerry's powerful (though unloved) new mobile platform, and a history of highly lauded hardware design. Still, there is really only one reason the Canadian phonemaker is attractive to Samsung right now: security. And security is the gateway to the highly valuable enterprise market.
Samsung has already declared its long-term intentions to enter—and win—the business market for mobile tech. The company has been aggressively advertising (and pushing) its mobile security platform, called KNOX. The only problem is that Samsung devices run on Google's Android operating system, which has a storied and rather dark history when it comes to security. So no matter how hard the company may push its security message, it could be unable to sneak out of Google's long shadow.
