Lenovo seems to be serioulsy interested in buying troubled Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry Ltd. The Chinese PC maker has signed a non-disclosure deal to examine the books of Blackberry, the Wall Street Journal said on Thursday. BlackBerry said in August it was exploring strategic options that could include an outright sale. The company has so far received a tentative $9 a share offer from a consortium led by its largest investor, Prem Watsa's Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd, which wants to buy BlackBerry for $4.7 billion and take it private.

BlackBerry products have not been so popular among users. The company's new line of smartphones that run on the BlackBerry 10 operating system has also failed to re-ignite sales. The negative buzz around the company has prompted Blackberry to run ads on newspapers in an effort to convince both investors and consumers that it is still on track to become financially stable and that will emerge stronger.