CEO John Chen has reportedly sat down with Xiaomi and Lenovo bosses in hope to seek some sort of partnership which would help BlackBerry expand its business in China, the World’s biggest smartphone market.
At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit, John Chen met with Chinese smartphone vendor bosses. However, John Chen stressed that whilst discussions occured, the company is not for sale and has not been considered for sale. He wishes for BlackBerry to operate as an independent company. John Chen sees any sort of partnership as growth, so selling the entire business would not make sense at all right now – despite previous rumours.
“It does seem that a more efficient way is to have a good partner to be here,” “I’m here this time to look at what opportunities there may be. We have not really focused on this market. It’s a huge market but it’s a very highly competitive market too.”
He also insisted that it would be too early to look for results from the conversations had with Lenovo and Xiaomi.
“What I’m doing is to explore what is the right approach to the market given what we do well and I’m not shutting any doors,” “This market is not an easy one to get deals done quickly. It’s going to take a while, but I’m interested.”
There you have it. Superman Chen understands the game and he’s playing it very carefully. From what I understand, the Chinese market is the biggest and even a foothold in there would mean profit and market share for BlackBerry, which essentially is the goal for CEO John Chen.
Source: Globe and Mail