Shares of Research in Motion  are up 66 cents, or almost 5%, at $14.11 this morning, on no apparent news.

@Yungjohnnybravo @TatWZA

Collin Gillis with BGC Partners, who has a Sell rating on the stock, tells me in a phone call this morning that the proximate cause, as far as he can tell, is discussion that Samsung Electronics (005930KS) is looking to make a minority investment in the company and to develop phones based on RIM’s forthcoming “BB10” operating system, which RIM is counting on to resuscitate the company’s phone portfolio.

Gillis, who’s met with Samsung of late, says the company is nervous, as are others, aboutGoogle’s (GOOG) intentions with respect to Motorola Mobility (MMI), which it is acquiring, and how that will shift things for Android licensees such as Samsung.

One answer is to use Samsung’s homegrown “Bada” operating system. Another is to use Microsoft’s (MSFT) “Windows 8” operating system, expected later this year. And, indeed, Gillis sees this as being “the year Windows Phone” gets traction. “I’m a believer,” he says.

However, RIM, he says, needs Samsung more than the other way around.

He’s fairly certain there have, in fact, been talks of some kind between the two.

“Obviously new management has been sitting down and saying, Maybe we could extend the platform and bring something new into the ecosystem” with Samsung or another partner, says Gillis, referring to RIM CEO Thorsten Heins, who was appointed in January.

Gillis thinks it’s highly unlikely RIM will get an investment from Samsung. (The number I’ve heard being tossed around by traders is $1.5 billion.)

Samsung doesn’t get anything from a minority stake, he asserts, and Canada’s government has made clear in past they will not allow an outright buyout of the company.

He does, however, think it’s possible Samsung would make phones with BB10. The question is when and if it would help or hurt.

As far as timing, “I could give you a better answer in the fall,” says Gillis, “When we see how much the platform has deteriorated,” he says of BB10.

Having Samsung sell phones would directly impact RIM’s own revenue, as Samsung is a better maker of phones, he observes, and so it’s a threat to RIM’s top line, at least in the near term.

[Barrons]