The Canadian phone maker BlackBerry has recently entered into a partnership with a Delhi-based telecom company named as Optiemus. Under the licensing terms, the enterprise will licence software as well as manufacture, design and sell the BlackBerry-branded Android mobiles in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. The agreement includes the licence for security software and services suite to Optiemus Infracom Ltd. The companies have jointly stated that they are supporting the Indian Government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative which is intended to generate local manufacturing and job opportunities.
BlackBerry’s agreement with Optiemus enlarges the existing relationship which was announced in November last year for the supply and sale of the BlackBerry DTEK50 and BlackBerry DTEK60 smartphones. The DTEK series by BlackBerry mobiles is considered as the most secure Android mobiles thanks to the BlackBerry Security Software inside. These phones are available via company’s distribution network.
“With its infrastructure and experience in manufacturing, and proven success as our distribution partner, Optiemus Infracom Ltd 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, General Manager, Mobility Solutions at BlackBerry, in a statement.
The agreement with Optiemus Infracom is in line with BlackBerry’s previous announcement to release the BlackBerry Mercury smartphone via licensing partners. Having said this, the company might bring the BlackBerry Mercury mobile to India through Optiemus Infracom.
As of now, no such official statement is received yet on BlackBerry Mercury’s India launch, but all the future BlackBerry mobiles will come in Indian market with the help of Optiemus. The statement also indicates to the recent BlackBerry agreement with BB Merah Putih and TCL to manufacture and distribute phones in select regions.
To recall BlackBerry has discontinued the manufacturing of the in-house product and instead focussing on the security and software solutions to provide regular Android security updates and maintain the security level to the platform.
The Chairman of Optiemus Infracom Ltd, Ashok Gupta mentioned that the strong presence of Optiemus in the mobile ecosystem comprising the manufacturing, distribution, retail, and support jointly with BlackBerry assures that the journey of the two companies will be long and successful one.
