Both BlackBerry DTEK50 and DTEK60 were made officially by Alcatel. Now the two companies are just making things official and known by the public. BlackBerry and Alcatel parent company TCL has announced the signing of a deal that fully brings a chapter in BlackBerry’s history to a close.
The Creative Life Of TCL
TCL Corporation (TCL stands for The Creative Life) is a Chinese multinational electronics company headquartered in Huizhou, Guangdong Province. It designs, develops, manufactures and sells products including television sets, mobile phones, air conditioners, washing machines, refrigerators and small electrical appliances. In 2010 the company was considered as the world's 25th largest consumer electronics producer. In 2013, it was the third largest television producer by market share.
TCL comprises three listed companies: TCL Corporation which is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and TCL Multimedia Technology Holdings, Ltd. and TCL Communication Technology Holdings, Ltd. which are listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The company as of April 2012 is in its venture with Swedish furniture giant IKEA to provide the consumer electronics behind the Uppleva integrated HDTV and entertainment system product.
BlackBerry Hands Its Brand To TCL
According to SlashGear, BlackBerry will simply be licensing its software and brand to TCL, who will the design, make and sell BlackBerry-branded smartphones, which pretty much makes it the exclusive BlackBerry hardware partner. What remains of BlackBerry Limited will assist in software and services.
"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," said Nicolas Zibell, CEO of TCL Communication. "Together with BlackBerry's smartphone software platform, this partnership will strengthen our position in the global mobile market."
There are a few exceptions, though, as reported by TNW. The deal isn’t valid in India and Indonesia, where BlackBerry has agreements with local manufacturers, and there’s still a lot of enthusiasm for the BlackBerry brand. It also doesn’t cover Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
"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," he added.
