China Security Concerns Turn Off BlackBerry Ltd (BBRY): John Chen

BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) has become disillusioned with an all-out attempt to reenergize its efforts in China, the world’s largest smartphones market, the company’s Chief Executive, John Chen, told Reuters in a report.

What exactly about China has made BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) turn sour on assaulting this massive market? According to Reuters’ Gerry Shih and Matthew Miller, the precarious balancing act of security concerns and doing business in the country has made the difference.

“Chen, who has been managing the company’s turnaround for the past year, told Reuters that concerns over information security and the political backlash that security breaches could create dimmed the allure of the world’s biggest smartphone market for Blackberry for the time being,” the duo wrote.

Nonetheless, Shih and Miller noted that the BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)’s CEO said recently that China is “too big a market to ignore.”

Chen is also said to have met officials, investors and telecom carriers in China recently. Furthermore, the chief executive bared that he has had casual discussions with Lenovo, Xiaomi and HTC Corp for possible cooperation.

However, although it has the interest, it seems that the once-mighty company would rather take its resources and for the moment focus on smaller and more manageable markets in Asia.

“Even if I have that time and money I’ll probably have better returns going into a different set of markets that we are already in, like India, South Asia, and Southeast Asia,” Chen is quoted as saying.

It should be noted, however, that BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY), a company which ironically makes one of the most expensive Android phones, just one of the expensive phones it makes, has moved past what seemed to be its doom and gloom phase.

Recently, it was reported that the company may double or triple its software sales by February next year.

Spencer M. Waxman’s Shannon River Fund Management reported owning 4 million BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) shares by the end of the first half of the year.