BlackBerry ties up with TCL for manufacturing and distributing its smart phones

Canadian firm BlackBerry has entered into a long term licensing agreement with Chinese multinational electronics company  TCL today. Under the terms of the agreement, the former will license its security software and service suite, as well as related brand assets to the latter. TCL in its turn will be designing, manufacturing, selling and providing customer support for Canadian firm’s mobile devices.

TCL will also manage all sales and distribution and serve as the global distributor of new BlackBerry-branded mobile devices along with its dedicated sales teams.

This is also the first liaison of the erstwhile mobile manufacturer in terms of global licensing agreement, which has led to the introduction of the DTEK50 and DTEK60 handsets on Android.

The company has recently announced that it wants to focus on software innovation and providing the most secure and comprehensive software for devices across the globe. The company also divulged that it wishes to work with third parties to develop hardware and market the BlackBerry handset brand.

According to Ralph Pini, Chief Operating Officer and General Manager of Mobility Solutions at BlackBerry,

This agreement with TCL Communication represents a key step in our strategy to focus on putting the ‘smart in the phone’ by providing state-of-the-art security and device software on a platform that mobile users prefer and are comfortable with.

TCL Communication is the natural choice to license our software and brand on a global scale. We successfully partnered with them on the DTEK series of secure smartphones and we’ve been impressed with their excellence in hardware design, development and manufacturing. With our unparalleled expertise in mobile security and software and TCL Communication’s vast global reach and consumer access, we are confident that BlackBerry-branded products developed and distributed by TCL Communication will address the needs of BlackBerry users and expand the availability of BlackBerry Secure products throughout the world.

Talking about the agreement, Nicolas Zibell, CEO of TCL Communication, said,

At TCL Communication, we are committed to creating the best portfolio solutions, while ensuring the quality support to consumers and enterprise users who trust the integrity of the BlackBerry device and the brand’s security leadership, coupled with the Android platform. Together with BlackBerry’s smartphone software platform, this partnership will strengthen our position in the global mobile market.

According to the terms of the agreement,  TCL will be the global manufacturer and distributor for all BlackBerry-branded smart phones across the world — barring India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Indonesia.