BlackBerry has licensed its security software and service suite, as well as related brand assets to TCL Communication who will design, manufacture, sell and provide customer support for BlackBerry-branded mobile devices.
The move will allow BlackBerry to develop its security and software solutions, serve its customers and maintain trusted BlackBerry security software, while TCL Communication will manage all sales and distribution and serve as a global distributor of new BlackBerry-branded mobile devices along with dedicated sales teams.
BlackBerry is transitioning its handheld devices strategy to focus on software innovation for devices around the world. BlackBerry already had an agreement with TCL Communication which saw TCL produce DTEK50 and DTEK60 handsets on Android which deliver the standard of security that customers and partners trust.
“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,” said Ralph Pini, Chief Operating Officer and General Manager of Mobility Solutions at BlackBerry. “TCL Communication is the natural choice to license BlackBerry’s 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.”
Sunday, July 21, 2019
BlackBerry licenses its mobile phone unit to TCL to focus on security software
