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Weekly Wireless Report WEEK ENDING January 23, 2015

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: This Week’s Stories Is Becoming A Wireless Carrier THIS WEEK’S STORIES January 23, 2015

Google Is Becoming A Wireless Carrier Imagine one day buying an Android not through , AT&T, Sprint, or T-Mobile -- but with Google Wireless. That day could be coming soon. BlackBerry CEO Proposes 'App Neutrality' Google will start selling cell phone service along with its Android phones, according to multiple news reports. This has been a long time coming. PRODUCTS & SERVICES For years, Google has been assembling just about all the pieces it needs to become a mobile provider. FreedomPop's Unlimited WiFi Plan Challenges Carriers The search giant already makes the most-used mobile on the planet, it designs and sells phones online, and it has become an service provider with its initiative. It even Virgin Mobile Launches has its own VoIP phone service called Google Voice, which allows people to get a Google phone No-Contract Data Sharing number and call people through Gmail or Hangouts over Wi-Fi.

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY The missing link has been the cell towers needed to build out a nationwide network.

Leaked Galaxy S6 Details Hint Rather than spending the tens of billions of dollars it would cost to create a wireless network, Google At 's Plan To Rival reportedly will carry its service over Sprint and T-Mobile's networks. Google declined to comment. Google is expected to pay those carriers just $2 per gigabyte, according to Macquarie Securities analyst Patents Theater Kevin Smithen. That means Google could choose to provide super-cheap service that gives Verizon Mode For Your Phone and AT&T something to worry about.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS Adding Google to an already competitive field that is in the middle of a major price war isn't likely to make the big carriers very happy -- that's why smaller carriers Sprint and T-Mobile are helping Google. Microsoft Acquires Statistical Software Company Revolution But T-Mobile and Sprint, in particular, are being cautious about the deal. Sprint worked a usage cap into Analytics For Big Data Insights its contract with Google that would allow the wireless company to renegotiate its deal if Google signs up a ton of customers, according to the Wall Street Journal. NTelos To Sell Off 103 Of Its Remaining Cell Towers For That could happen. In 2018, Smithen believes Google will pay Sprint $750 million and T-Mobile $250 million for its service. That means even if Google chooses to break even, it could sell $1 billion in $41M To Grain Management wireless services just three years from now.

INDUSTRY REPORTS But the chances of Google surpassing any one of the Big Four wireless carriers is practically nil. Up For Sale, Google, Existing carriers don't want wireless service to become a commodity. Short of building out its own PayPal Among Those wireless network, Google will have to go through one of the Big Four to get national coverage. Interested In Buying Still, the plan makes sense for Google.

Samsung Isn’t Planning Google makes money on Android by licensing the software to smartphone makers and by driving BlackBerry Acquisition, customers to use its apps and search services. Rather than relying on wireless companies to provide Co-CEO Says service, Google Wireless would give the search company the ability to deal directly with its customers.

There have already been a few skirmishes between Google and the cell phone companies that threaten Google's business. Over the past few years, Verizon has banned Google's Wallet app and made Microsoft's Bing the default search engine in some of its Android phones. Also, Google has spoken out against the data caps AT&T and Verizon put on customers, as well as T-Mobile's slowing of customers' speeds once they reach a certain limit.

Google is hardly the first to try its selling wireless service. Best Buy, Staples and Wal-Mart all offer wireless plans to their customers. LightSquared, a failed wholesale carrier, tried to become the

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backbone for so-called mobile virtual network operators around the country. (The FCC determined that its spectrum interfered with GPS signals, and it ultimately went bankrupt).

If successful, Google's plan could pave the way for Apple to sell its own wireless service with every iPhone. And Facebook and other companies with a vested interest in connecting people to the Internet could get involved too.

But there's a lot of risk associated with being a wireless carrier too. When service inevitably goes down or connections fail, customers will blame Google -- not Sprint or T-Mobile -- for the disruptions.

cnn.com

BlackBerry CEO Proposes 'App Neutrality' January 22, 2015

BlackBerry CEO John Chen is asking President Obama, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and various congressional committee members to apply the Net neutrality concept to mobile apps. The move would essentially force companies to provide apps for all platforms.

"Neutrality must be mandated at the application and content layer if we truly want a free, open and non- discriminatory Internet," Chen said in a lengthy post on the Inside BlackBerry blog. "All wireless broadband customers must have the ability to access any lawful applications and content they choose, and applications/content providers must be prohibited from discriminating based on the customer’s mobile ."

Chen's post brought critics out of the woodwork.

"As a BlackBerry app developer, I think this is a terrible idea," said Brian Knapp, leaving a comment on the blog. "You get developers to build for you by having a compelling platform, not by trying to force them to build for your platform."

"Enforced content/app neutrality is a terrible idea," said commenter Alastair Houghton. "There are all kinds of reasons why developers might choose not to support BlackBerry phones, and mandating that they do (whether themselves or via a third-party) is an onerous restriction that will dissuade people from developing software or services in the first place."

Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, said developers go where the volume is -- but this tends to support dominant companies and put smaller ones at a huge disadvantage.

"Let's put Blackberry aside and look at Apple, but not iOS but MacOS. It is still a really small player in the PC world, largely because the volume of Macs keeps lots of business developers from putting the same effort into Mac apps as they would Windows," Enderle told us. "Linux just doesn't get great apps, for instance. Granted it isn't exactly user-friendly either, but even if it was it likely couldn't get to critical mass."

Finally, Enderle said, Microsoft has actually created a decent mobile platform but faces the same problem Apple does on PCs -- the company doesn't have the volume to get the apps, and without the apps you can't get to the volume. As Enderle sees it, the only way to get around this is to pivot the market like Apple did with the iPhone and iPad. That, of course, is incredibly risky because the market may not want to pivot.

"Pivoting is where you convince people you are unique and desirable so they flock to you and whatever apps you have are good enough," Enderle said. "If there were a state-mandated app platform, then the operating systems would have to support it and smaller companies could better compete in existing markets."

Unfortunately, Enderle said, states aren't really set up to do something like this, in part, because they tend to lag significantly in technology. That said, Enderle noted that Canada (where BlackBerry is based) could mandate a form of app neutrality to help BlackBerry, and Korea could do the same to help Samsung because both firms are seen as important to their nations.

"I actually think this is better for the industry because once-dominant companies tend to sit on the market and cost-reduce their products as Microsoft did with IE 6 and IBM did with the mainframe in the '80s," Enderle said. 'Microsoft lost its dominance and IBM almost went out of business, where if the

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market had remained more competitive both firms likely would have remained more focused on improving their offerings and not reducing costs and better avoided these outcomes."

mobile-tech-today.com

Products & Services FreedomPop's Unlimited WiFi Plan Challenges Carriers January 21, 2015

FreedomPop's new deal offers unlimited WiFi at 10 million hotspots around the US for $5/month. But be “The company is selling aware of the restrictions. unlimited voice, text, and data FreedomPop has a new plan it hopes will convince people to ditch their wireless network carriers. The service -- via WiFi -- for $5 company is selling unlimited voice, text, and data service -- via WiFi -- for $5 per month. It's a tempting per month. It's a tempting deal, but there are considerable restrictions to weigh before you take the plunge. deal, but there are FreedomPop is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), reselling access to Sprint's network under its considerable restrictions to own name. The company already offers free and low-cost plans that use a of traditional cellular weigh before you take the technology and WiFi, but FreedomPop's plan ditches cellular altogether and relies only on WiFi. plunge.” The company has inked deals with unnamed WiFi hotspot aggregators to provide what it calls "seamless" access to WiFi at 10 million points around the US. In other words, FreedomPop's service will be available at places like Burger King, McDonald's, Panera, and Starbucks. It'll also be available in outdoor public WiFi zones in larger cities. FreedomPop's WiFi coverage map isn't very detailed, but it appears that there are numerous places to connect in most major areas. (FreedomPop told GigaOm that it is not working with Boingo, which means many major airports are out.)

How does the service work? In order to access the WiFi hotspots, customers will need to download FreedomPop's application. The app -- and the unlimited WiFi plan -- is available only to Android devices; FreedomPop didn't say if an iOS app is in the works. The app will provide the necessary handshake to connect to FreedomPop's WiFi network partners' hotspots. The connection will take place automatically in the background; users won't be required to sign in each time. The app will connect securely where secure connections are supported. Once connected, customers will be able to use their device for calling, messaging, and surfing the Web.

FreedomPop's model is designed to accept any device that is compatible with Sprint's network. That means no unlocked GSM phones -- the device must have CDMA and LTE on board with support for Sprint's network frequencies. Last fall the company began selling its own branded $79 , which doesn't connect to cellular networks and is limited to WiFi. Clearly, FreedomPop hopes customers will pair the phablet with its new WiFi-based service, but customers may use any Android device with WiFi on board.

FreedomPop believes the low $5 price point and device flexibility will convince people to use its service not as their primary method for connectivity, but as a backup or secondary option. Consider your older, unused Android taking up space in a drawer, or a WiFi-only Android tablet -- these could take advantage of FreedomPop's WiFi service.

Given the limited WiFi footprint, businesses would be better off equipping employees with wireless devices supported by a major network operator. That said, however, FreedomPop's offering is a compelling option for tablets or spare phones. At $5 month, it's certainly worth testing.

informationweek.com

Virgin Mobile Launches No-Contract Data Sharing January 19, 2015

Sprint's Virgin Mobile USA division is doing what no wireless carrier has ever done. The company is rolling out the industry’s first no-contract data sharing plans. The only catch, if you can call it a catch, is you have to go through Walmart to get it.

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The new plans are available now on four 4G LTE smartphones: the HTC Desire, LG Tribute, LG Volt and Samsung Galaxy Core. All four devices come pre-loaded with a Virgin Mobile data-sharing application that lets you pick data buy-ups and international add-ons.

“At Virgin Mobile we are committed to offering prepaid customers innovative new wireless options,” said Angela Rittgers, vice president of Sprint Prepaid. “We were the first prepaid carrier to offer texting keyboards and texting-only plans, first to help customers pay less for talk they weren’t using, the first to feature a totally customized plan, and now the sharing plans. The new data sharing plans bring some of the most aggressive shared- plans ever launched to Walmart.”

Rittgers is not just blowing smoke. Virgin Mobile USA is getting ultra-aggressive as the wireless industry competition continues heating up, especially on the pricing front. Last week, T-Mobile rolled out a $40 pre-paid wireless plan with unlimited data, talk and text with 4G LTE data buckets.

Let’s drill into the particulars of Virgin Mobile’s “Data Done Right” data share plan. Beyond the pre- loaded data-sharing application that lets you buy data in increments of 1 GB for $10 a month, every multi-line plan will also come with a free mobile hotspot feature so you can share data across Wi-Fi enabled devices.

Virgin Mobile is promising no additional monthly line fees and the company is also letting you use popular social media and music streaming apps, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pandora, without data charges when you opt to pay $5 a month. That gets you unlimited usage without counting against your data allotment. Flexible international plan options and parental control features, including device curfew and app restrictions, are also part of the package.

We caught up with Jeff Kagan, an independent technology analyst, to get his thoughts on the new Virgin Mobile USA plan. He told us the move gives new choices to consumers at a time when the wireless marketplace is changing and growing.

“Yesterday there was not much of a choice for customers. Yesterday customers simply chose their favorite carrier by brand,” Kagan said. “Today choice is continuing to grow. Today customers not only have different carriers to choose from, but within those carriers they have lots of different service choices like prepaid and post-paid for voice and data.”

The Data Done Right plans start as low as $30 per line and run up to $115 per month for four lines. The two-line plan costs $65 a month and offers unlimited talk and text and 4 GB of data. The three-line plan offers 8 GB of data to share for $90 and the four-line plan offers 12 GB of data to share. Again, you can buy extra data in increments of 1 GB for $10 a month.

In terms of the devices that go with those plans, you can purchase the HTC Desire 510 for $99.88; the LG Tribute for $79.88, and LG Volt for $149.88; and the Samsung Galaxy Core Prime for $129.88. The Galaxy Core Prime features a 4.5-inch display, 1.2 GHz quad core processor, Android 4.4 KitKat and a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera. Virgin Mobile plans to add more devices to its new plans by the end of February.

“No single service offering is perfect for everyone. That's why carriers like Sprint are offering a growing variety of choices,” Kagan said. “This way they can not only compete, but win with more slices of the consumer pie.”

Kagan expects Virgin Mobile's new plan to prove attractive to at least one slice of the consumer pie -- the no-contract slice. And he said that's the whole point. Carriers are offering a wider variety of choices so they can both hang on to and win new customers.

“That's the direction the entire wireless market seems to be heading. Customer needs and demands are growing,” Kagan said. “Many customers are interested in a no-contract plan. This is another way for Sprint to compete in this space with their Virgin Mobile USA brand.”

mobile-tech-today.com

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Emerging Technology Leaked Galaxy S6 Details Hint At Samsung's Plan To Rival Apple Pay January 22, 2015

The is going to be one of the most anticipated Android devices this year. The Galaxy S6 is expected to have a glass and metal body, improvements in the TouchWiz interface responsiveness, a major decrease in memory consumption, upgraded cameras and a boost in the chipset, according to rumors discovered by FORBES contributor Gordon Kelly earlier this month. However, additional specs have been leaked to BGR this week that revealed Samsung has plans to take on Apple Pay.

BGR said that they received photos of the Galaxy S6, but they were not allowed to publish them so they leaked the specifications instead. The Galaxy S6 specifications leaked to BGR included a 64-bit eight- core 14nm CPU, a 5.1-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display (577 ppi), a 20-megapixel OIS rear camera and a 5-megapixel f/1.8 front-facing camera, 32/64/128GB storage options, wireless charging built-in, 2550 mAh battery, quick connect charging, Gorilla Glass 4 and Cat 6 LTE. There is a quick charging feature that lets you use the Galaxy S6 for four hours after charging it for only 10 minutes.

The NFC payment system built into the Galaxy S6 is reportedly called and it will work with 90% of the existing magnetic stripe payment terminals. Samsung Pay will work with a new touch- based fingerprint scanner to authorize payments. SamMobile.com reported this week that Samsung is working with Visa on launching Samsung Pay.

Keep in mind, everything that we know about the Samsung Galaxy S6 is speculative. Previous rumors suggested that the Galaxy S6 would have a 5.5-inch Quad HD display. I have also heard rumors that the Galaxy S6 will be a very flexible smartphone with an expansion upon the YOUM technology introduced in the Galaxy Note Edge. Apparently, both sides of the Galaxy S6 will have slanted edges to balance the appearance of the device.

The Galaxy S6 is expected to be announced at Samsung’s Unpacked event during Mobile World Congress in March.

forbes.com

Microsoft Patents Theater Mode For Your Phone January 19, 2015

Your next phone might automatically go into "theater mode" when you're at the movies. Your “Microsoft just patented a way smartphone will stay silent and the screen will go dim. to make your phone less Microsoft just patented a way to make your phone less noticeable and disruptive when you're in certain noticeable and disruptive environments (Microsoft calls it "inconspicuous mode"). You can use it at a movie theater, a dinner date when you're in certain or at home about to go to bed. environments (Microsoft calls The U.S. government awarded Microsoft the patent on Thursday. The award was first noticed by Patent it "inconspicuous mode"). You Yogi, an Indian consulting firm. can use it at a movie theater, It's all based on the notion that your phone can annoy the person next to you -- especially if you're in a a dinner date or at home dark, quiet place. about to go to bed.” Incoming message? Need to check the time? Got an unstoppable itch to check Instagram? You're

about to bathe your neighbors in a monstrously bright light and set off a chain of irksome bleeps.

In "inconspicuous mode," sounds are gone, and the screen is a faint glow. Notifications don't show up on the home screen. The time is displayed in large numbers that are easier to glace at.

In Microsoft's description, you could tailor the "inconspicuous" display any way you like. Maybe it only shows text messages. Or it dims more than normal.

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But the key feature is that it would be automatic. It would go into this mode if your phone's GPS detects you're at the location of a movie theater. Or if a restaurant's or stage theater's Wi-Fi or Bluetooth beacons tell it to. Or if your phone's light sensor detects darkness while the microphone also detects silence (like just before a movie starts playing).

To figure this out, the phone could even tap your calendar or your recent mobile payments. If you bought event tickets at the counter using tap-to-pay technology, your phone would know when to go quiet.

If this gets popular, venues will probably be quick to embrace it. use in theaters is so pervasive nowadays that brief "please silence your phones" requests are now full-blown, pre-movie short films. And every performance by the New York Philharmonic is preceded by a 30-second, pre- recorded plea by Alec Baldwin. It's downright embarrassing.

And no, theaters aren't going to start hijacking your phones. Microsoft's careful wording in its patent application shows that users retain control.

"The mobile communication device can exit the inconspicuous mode and return to the normal mode upon the user's request," it says.

cnn.com

Mergers and Acquisitions Microsoft Acquires Statistical Software Company For Big Data Insights January 23, 2015

In the same week Microsoft announced it was snapping up text analysis software startup Equivio, the computing giant has now revealed it’s buying Revolution Analytics, a provider of services for a programming language that’s used in statistical computing and predictive analytics.

The succinctly-named “” is one of the most popular languages for data science, and Microsoft says it’s buying Revolution Analytics to “help more companies use the power of R and data science to unlock big data insights with advanced analytics,” according to its press release.

R is an open-source software project, meaning it can be accessed by anyone for free — but if Microsoft buying Revolution Analytics just made your heart skip a beat, relax — the company says it will continue “supporting and evolving” both commercial and open source distributions of Revolution R across platforms.

Though Microsoft is often labelled a “closed” company, it has been making bigger moves in the open source direction in recent times.

Back in October, Microsoft revealed new partnerships with operating system startup CoreOS and big data company Cloudera. Then in November came the biggie – Microsoft’s plans to open source its software framework .NET and release it on GitHub. It also announced plans to target Mac OS X and Linux.

Looking even further back, however, Microsoft launched CodePlex in 2006 — a GitHub-style portal for hosting open-source projects. It then rolled out IronRuby, an open-source implementation of the Ruby programming language in 2007.

Just last month, Micrsosoft revealed it was open-sourcing its Worldwide Telescope software too.

venturebeat.com

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NTelos To Sell Off 103 Of Its Remaining Cell Towers For $41M To Grain Management January 20, 2015

Sprint wholesale partner nTelos Wireless struck a deal to sell up to 103 of its cell towers for $41 million to an affiliate of Grain Management, a private equity firm focused on investments in the media and communications sectors. The deal represents most of the towers that nTelos still owned and comes less than two months after nTelos announced plans to sell off its spectrum and its retail business in markets in eastern .

As part of the new tower deal, nTelos will enter into long-term lease agreements on the towers it sold that are located in its Western Markets. NTelos plans to focus its future efforts on its business in western Virginia and , following the sale of its business in eastern Virginia. The tower transaction is expected to close in multiple installments during calendar year 2015, the first of which is expected to occur in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, nTelos provided preliminary fourth-quarter results. For its Western Markets, the company added a total of 5,000 net wireless customers in the period, down from 7,300 in the year-ago period. The net additions were made up of 4,700 postpaid customers and 300 prepaid customers. The carrier had a total of 282,100 subscribers in the Western Markets at the end of 2014, compared to 273,600 at the end of 2013.

For all of 2014, the company expects to be at or above the mid-point of its previous full-year 2014 adjusted EBITDA guidance of between $128 million and $132 million, reflecting consolidated operations in the Eastern and Western Markets.

Jefferies analysts Mike McCormack, Scott Goldman and Tudor Mustata wrote in a research note that the tower sale is a positive development, though the net proceeds are likely going to be lower than the announced $41 million in gross proceeds. The company's subscriber metrics were lower than Jefferies had expected and imply higher churn than the analysts had forecasted. However, the company's implied fourth-quarter EBITDA is higher than expected, they wrote.

Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche wrote in a research note that the tower sale does not come as a surprise, as nTelos had signaled it was seeking to monetize its towers when it announced the divestiture of the Eastern Markets in early December. "The price per tower of $400K, however, is higher than we expected, as we previously had assumed $100K per site when estimating NTLS's core asset value," she wrote. "The positive postpay and prepaid net adds show signs of improvement in its retail business, although we believe the competitive environment in its Western Markets will continue to be challenging."

fiercewireless.com

Industry Reports Softcard Up For Sale, Google, PayPal Among Those Interested In Buying January 20, 2015

Google is interested in buying mobile payments company Softcard, according to multiple reports, in a deal that would bring Google into closer alignment with wireless carriers and that would consolidate the payments market just as Apple Pay is getting off the ground.

According to reports in TechCrunch, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, all of which cited unnamed sources familiar with the matter, Google is considering acquiring Softcard. PayPal is also bidding for Softcard, according to the reports. Softcard is a joint venture backed by backed by Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility and T-Mobile US.

Representatives for AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, PayPal and Softcard declined to comment. "We don't have a comment, background, deep background, off the record steer, nod, wink or any other verbal or non-verbal response to these sorts of rumors," a Google spokesperson said in a statement sent to multiple news outlets.

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It's unclear how much Google might be willing to pay for Softcard, which rebranded itself from "Isis" last September to disassociate itself from the extremist Islamist militant group, the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. The WSJ reported Google's bid is at least $50 million and TechCrunch and the NYT reported that it was for less than $100 million. According to TechCrunch, Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Softcard since it was founded in November 2010.

Softcard, like Apple Pay and Google Wallet, uses Near Field Communications to let customers make contactless payments from an app on their phones. Softcard says that there are more than 200,000 merchants in the U.S. (including major chains like McDonald's and Subway) that support the Softcard app, which is available for Android and smartphones but not the iPhone. Softcard works with payment cards from , Chase, Wells Fargo and other .

However, there have been signs that Softcard has not gained traction with consumers. Earlier this month Softcard cut 60 employees, which the company said was part of efforts to "reduce costs and strengthen its business." TechCrunch reported the company was burning through a half a million dollars per day, or around $15 million per month. The WSJ reported that remaining employees were told to stop working while the business sought a buyer.

A deal between Google and Softcard would bring together companies that have a long history of working together, as Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile are all longstanding supporters of Google's Android mobile platform and already get a fraction of the revenue Google makes from ads served on Android and applications and content bought through its Play store. Google also currently offers its Google Wallet service, which seeks to provide some and commerce services. However, Google has revamped the Google Wallet service several times since introducing it in 2011.

Originally, Google Wallet included an idea for an advertising system that would use purchases in physical stores to improve the targeting of digital ads, according to the Journal. Google wanted to share some of this ad revenue with carriers, but the companies couldn't agree on terms, so a deal for Softcard might revive that.

In any event, the perceived early success and acceptance of Apple Pay in the market has spurred Google and PayPal to get more aggressive in the mobile payments market, the NYT and WSJ reported. Apple has deals with the six biggest credit-card issuers for its new Apple Pay service, accounting for around 83 percent of credit-card transactions in the U.S. Apple Pay works at around 220,000 stores and lets users pay for goods via NFC on the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

Meanwhile, the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) is setting up a mobile payments system called CurrentC to rival Apple Pay, Softcard and other mobile payment offerings. Last fall MCX took a great deal of criticism because merchants that have signed up for its system, including Walmart, Target, CVS, Rite Aid, Best Buy and others, have agreed to use CurrentC exclusively. However, MCX CEO Dekkers Davidson told Re/code in November that the exclusive arrangement likely won't last long.

fiercewireless.com

Samsung Isn’t Planning BlackBerry Acquisition, Co-CEO Says January 19, 2015

Samsung Electronics Co.’s co-chief executive said Monday that the company wants to enhance its partnership with BlackBerry Ltd., but has no intention of acquiring the Canadian handset maker.

“We want to work with BlackBerry and develop this partnership, not acquire the company,” J.K. Shin, who heads Samsung’s mobile-phone business, said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal.

Samsung is separately in talks with BlackBerry to extend the scope of its cooperation, including the potential use of BlackBerry technology in Samsung devices, the company said.

It didn’t elaborate on the potential extension of its agreement.

Rumors of a possible acquisition of BlackBerry by Samsung have persisted for years, particularly as the Waterloo, Ontario-based smartphone maker has struggled against competition in the smartphone market.

Mr. Shin said an acquisition of BlackBerry would be counter to the company’s strategy. Samsung has built its ambitions for the enterprise market around its own security platform, called Knox.

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Samsung, the world’s largest maker of handsets, has invested heavily in Knox over the past few years, though it has struggled to gain traction with the platform and hasn’t yet announced any prominent clients for the service.

“We are satisfied with the progress of Knox, including the quality of security and protection that it enables, and remain committed to Knox over the long term,” the company said.

In November, Samsung and BlackBerry signed an agreement that allows each company to sell the other’s mobile-security technology. Samsung has signed similar deals with other enterprise security companies, including Citrix Systems Inc., Good Technology Inc., MobileIron Inc. and VMware Inc.’s AirWatch.

“We value all of our relationships,” Samsung said.

Samsung also said that it wasn’t craving access to BlackBerry’s patent portfolio, calling attention to its own patent portfolio, which is one of the biggest in the technology world. Samsung said that as of the end of 2013, it has registered more than 110,000 patents globally, including more than 34,000 in the U.S.

Analysts have said BlackBerry’s 44,000 patents could be an attractive asset for Samsung, which has spent much of the past five years in a legal battle with Apple Inc. over patents. Samsung also has signed cross-licensing deals with partners such as Google Inc., giving it some shelter from patent litigation.

wsj.com

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