Almost as quickly as the rumor started spreading, it seemed like the rumor was shut right back down. A recent report from Reuters suggested that tech giant Samsung has offered a handsome purchase price of $7.8 billion for the acquisition of BlackBerry. However, if you were to ask BlackBerry what’s really going on, they’re going to tell you that the report is completely wrong. The official press release from BlackBerry reads as such:

“BlackBerry Limited is aware of certain press reports published today with respect to a possible offer by Samsung to purchase BlackBerry. BlackBerry has not engaged in discussions with Samsung with respect to any possible offer to purchase BlackBerry. BlackBerry's policy is not to comment on rumors or speculation, and accordingly it does not intend to comment further.”

So, for the moment, that settles that.

But the seed is now planted in our heads. What would a mobile world be like if Samsung were to purchase BlackBerry? Would the resulting acquisiton be making Samsung better, or would it make BlackBerry worse? A Samsung-owned BlackBerry wasn’t initially something that I had ever considered deeply, but now that it’s been brought up officially in so many reports (despite being denied at this point) my mind has already been reeling with possibilities of how such an acquisition would realistically go down.

I have to admit that I don’t find the idea totally repulsive, personally. While the two companies certainly have different directions that they’re taking their products in (BlackBerry still relying and focusing heavily on business; Samsung a bit more whimsical and catering more towards everyday life and personal use) I think that mixing the two might not be a horrible idea. It’s not like business users don’t have a personal life, or vice versa.

And while I think that BlackBerry still has a small (but loyal) user base, I do think that BlackBerry has struggled to really encourage casual users to adopt the new BlackBerry 10 platform. Sure, BlackBerry 10 makes a decent personal phone, but I wouldn’t ever recommend it over something like a Samsung device if having a big app selection is an important feature to somebody.

At the end of the day, it would be much easier just to say “Here, this device does it all for you. Do you need security for the business side of your life? This phone has BlackBerry’s top-notch security in place to keep your information secure. You also have access to Google’s Play Store, all on Samsung’s revamped TouchWiz.” Or, you know, something along those lines. The point is that I could see the two could theoretically mixing very well together, because one is able to offer what the other one doesn’t have. BlackBerry can give Samsung secure devices and access to business clients, and Samsung could give BlackBerry users a much broader “personal” use of their phone outside of work.

With BlackBerry being so adamant against any potential SamBerry in the near future, these questions and ideas will go unanswered for now. BlackBerry’s CEO John Chen has seemed pretty optimistic about BlackBerry’s future and the direction they’re heading in, so I suppose the shut down of such rumors don’t exactly surprise me. I don’t know, though; the idea of BlackBerry merging or being acquired by another, more popular company and sharing its renowned security and business suite with somebody else (not necessarily Samsung) doesn’t sound like a terrible idea at the end of the day to me.

Readers, what are your thoughts when it comes down to BlackBerry possibly being acquired by another company? Who do you think BlackBerry should merge with if the day ever came for BlackBerry to sell?