BlackBerry Gives Licence To TCL To Design And Manufacture Its Mobile Devices

On Friday, BlackBerry and TCL Communication have announced their long-term licensing agreement. TCL will now be able to manufacture, design, sell and support future BlackBerry mobile devices in the future.

The terms of agreement also indicate that BlackBerry will license their security software and service suite together with the BlackBerry logo, name, and brand assets to TCL as well. TCL is currently the fourth biggest manufacturer of mobile handsets in North America.

BlackBerry CEO John Chen announced in September that their company is not just about the smartphone anymore, but the smart in the phone. It shall continue to develop and control its security and software solutions. TCL, on the other hand, will be managing the sales and distribution of their BlackBerry-branded mobile devices. The collaboration of the two companies started with the introduction of BlackBerry's headsets namely the DTEK50 and DTEK60. These were TCL headset's rebranded versions.

TCL now has exclusive global manufacturing and distribution rights for all BlackBerry-branded smartphones except for Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Indonesia. Back in September, BlackBerry announced its plan to have a joint venture with PT Tiphone Mobile, the Indonesian telco to manufacture all handsets in the country with the BlackBerry name per znet.com.

BlackBerry Radar

BlackBerry has also launched Radar back in March. It's an loT solution allowing trucking and logistics companies to track location, humidity, temperature, and cargo. It's a standalone monitor hardware installed at the trailer door. Then the device connects to a mobile network.

TCL GoLive

Being one of the world's biggest and the US fastest growing TV brand, also announced this week that its US customers can now use the GoLive streaming service on all smart TVs they offer. It used to be available only in China, but now GoLive's programming focuses on international content in order to appeal to its diverse audience. GoLive has launched in 20 countries. It is accessed by over a million monthly users. Later this year, an ultimate movie component will also be launched. For more BlackBerry news and latest updates, keep it here on News Everyday.