BlackBerry signs licensing deal to sell smartphones in India and other Asian markets

BlackBerry will be unveiling their Android powered smartphone on 25th February at the MWC. They have already rolled out the invitations that offers to bring ‘Something Different’ to people. To launch BlackBerry in different global markets the company is taking on different strategic partners to help achieve that goal. The company a few months back signed a licensing deal that with Optiemus Infracom which will bring BlackBerry to people in India.

Now the have expanded this deal, giving the company the rights to “design, manufacture, sell, promote and support” BlackBerry device not only in India but in other Asian markets like Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. As South Asia is one of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the world and Blackberry’s move is not surprising, considering that the company is working hard on reviving its iconic name. Ashok Gupta, Chairman of Optiemus Infracom shared:

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.

This is not the first licensing deal that the company has made. A few months back BlackBerry decided that it will stop in-house hardware development and out source it to different partner. This move will allow the company to shift its focus on developing the software and services for their branded devices. After this decision, BlackBerry started BB Merah Putih, a collaboration that would bring Blackberry branded devices in Indonesia. Then the company took on a California-based TCL communication. The pattern of partnerships shows how the company is working on bringing BlackBerry device globally again.

Along with that the company seems to be following a similar business model as Nokia, where the Finnish company licensed HDM Global to produce Nokia branded smartphones. BlackBerry will be unveiling their new smartphone ‘Mercury’ in a few weeks, we are excited to see what different features the device will have and how do the partnerships give the company an edge in creating some amazing features that are the need of the day.

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