BlackBerry buyout may not help China business

The United States smartphone maker BlackBerry Ltd's $4.7-billion buyout deal does not guarantee an upturn in the company's fortunes in China, analysts said on Tuesday.

"BlackBerry does not execute its China strategy well," said Wang Jingwen, researcher at industry consultancy Canalys.

The company has less than 0.1 percent market share in China where mobile Internet users hit 464 million as of June.

Z10, BlackBerry's latest release, did not have an official launch in China.

There are challenges such as how it will respond to changes in human resources, management and its product rollouts, said Wang.

BlackBerry said it has reached a tentative agreement for a $4.7 billion buyout by a group led by Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd, the company's major shareholder.

Its China unit had yet to release a statement regarding the deal.