BlackBerry chief John Chen looking for partners to expand into China

BlackBerry chief executive John Chen says he is interested in partnerships to expand on the mainland, the world's largest smartphone market, after meeting the heads of Xiaomi and Lenovo Group.

BlackBerry's strengths in security, encryption and privacy are in demand on the mainland and there may be opportunities for agreements on technology licensing, distribution or manufacturing, Chen said in Beijing, where he was attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit.

During the summit, Chen said he met with Xiaomi's chief Lei Jun, and Lenovo's head Yang Yuanqing. These meetings with the mainland's two largest smartphone vendors come at a time when BlackBerry is trying to return to growth after declining phone shipments dragged it to net losses in each of the past three years.

"It does seem that a more efficient way is to have a good partner to be here," Chen said. "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 very highly competitive too."

Chen took the post a year ago to lead a turnaround after shipments of BlackBerry's smartphones plunged in the past four years as it struggles to compete with touch-screen devices produced by Apple and Samsung Electronics. The Hong Kong native outsourced some production, sold property and focused on business customers by bringing back phones with signature physical keyboards and offering more software-based services.

The changes have helped put the company on track for break-even cash flow by the end of this fiscal year and for a return to profit the next year, Chen said.