Xiaomi buying BlackBerry sounded too good to be true - and it was

Xiaomi is not going to be acquiring BlackBerry despite media reports claiming co-founder Bin Lin said it would.

On first flush, the idea of Xiaomi buying BlackBerry sounded vaguely plausible. A fast-growing Chinese company looking to break into western markets buys a well-known but struggling brand.

The report came from the website G for Games and was based on its translation of comments from Lin, the company's co-founder and president, on Chinese social media website Weibo claiming he said: "Xiaomi will acquire BlackBerry".

Cue several other websites picking up the story and running with it, claiming that Xiaomi could leverage the BlackBerry name in the UK and US markets to quickly grow market share in areas it currently doesn't even sell smartphones.

Security

But what about the security issues? For all its struggles, BlackBerry is still far-and-away the most trusted mobile phone for businesses and governments looking to secure communications. Even US president Barack Obama uses one.

And while there is no suggestion that Xiaomi is in cahoots with the Chinese government, there is currently a lot of distrust between the two nations - something that only increased in the last 24 hours following the massive data breach in the US government's Office of Personnel Management.

A quick email to Xiaomi quickly scuppered this report however, with spokeswoman Kaylene Hong saying: "This claim is not true at all."

Hong pointed out that the post on Weibo by the company's president actually translates as "Everyone, please don't spread rumours" and was in response to another post by someone who said: "Xiaomi is going to acquire BlackBerry."

Xiaomi is a Chinese internet company which briefly became the world's third biggest smartphone maker during 2014 and is also the world's second biggest wearable manufacturer thanks to its Mi Band fitness tracker - which just this week went on sale in the US and UK for the first time.