The Canadian smartphone-turned-software giant BlackBerry recently announced a licensing agreement with the Indian telecommunications group, Optiemus Infracom.
This agreement follows a similar licensing deal between BlackBerry and TCL communications. That agreement will see TCL use BlackBerry’s enterprise knowledge and resources to manufacture devices with BlackBerry’s branding.
In its latest licensing agreement, the Canadian smartphone company will license its security software and services suite, as well as relevant brand assets, to Optiemus.
“This is an important milestone in our strategy to put ‘the smart in the phone,’ providing state-of-the-art security and device software on a platform relevant to mobile customers, with more localization. With its infrastructure and experience in manufacturing, and proven success as our distribution partner, Optiemus Infracom is the ideal partner to design and manufacture trusted BlackBerry secure Android handsets for customers in India and neighbouring markets,” said Alex Thurber, senior vice President of mobility solutions at BlackBerry, in a statement.
The telecommunications company will design, manufacture, sell, promote and provide customer service for BlackBerry-branded mobile devices in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, including the BlackBerry for Android secure software.
This aligns BackBerry’s previous claim that it would begin licensing its software to third-party manufacturers as part of the company’s shift to a services and securities company.
A statement from the struggling tech company goes on to claim that with these agreements, BlackBerry has achieved global coverage for licensees in all markets to manufacture branded devices.
Furthermore, the latest agreement between BlackBerry and Optiemus supports the Indian government’s “Make in India” initiative, which aims to create local manufacturing jobs.
“This agreement will help us expand mobility choices by designing, manufacturing and offering secure BlackBerry devices which are made in India, for customers in India, as well as Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. With our strong end to end play in the mobile ecosystem in manufacturing, retail, distribution and support, we are confident that our journey with BlackBerry will be a long and successful one,” said Ashok Gupta, chairman of Optiemus, in a statement.
The agreement with BlackBerry expands on an existing relationship between the two firms beginning in November of 2016, for the distribution and sale of the DTEK50 and DTEK60.
Source: BlackBerry
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