The Company announced that it has entered into a five-year strategic partnership with Foxconn, the world’s largest manufacturer of electronic products and components. Under this new relationship, Foxconn will jointly develop and manufacture certain new BlackBerry devices and manage the inventory associated with those devices. The initial focus of the partnership will be a smartphone for Indonesia and other fast-growing markets targeting early 2014.
“This partnership demonstrates BlackBerry’s commitment to the device market for the long-term and our determination to remain the innovation leader in secure end-to-end mobile solutions,” said Chen. “Partnering with Foxconn allows BlackBerry to focus on what we do best – iconic design, world-class security, software development and enterprise mobility management – while simultaneously addressing fast-growing markets leveraging Foxconn’s scale and efficiency that will allow us to compete more effectively.”
BlackBerry will own all of its intellectual property and perform product assurance on devices through the Foxconn partnership, as it does currently with all third-party manufacturers.
“BlackBerry is an iconic brand with great technology and a loyal international fan base,” said Terry Gou, Founder and Chairman, Foxconn. “We are pleased to be working with BlackBerry as it positions itself for future growth and we look forward to a successful strategic partnership in which Foxconn will jointly develop and manufacture new BlackBerry devices in both Indonesia and Mexico for new and existing markets.”
BlackBerry will focus heavily, via internal development, on market segments where its continuous innovations in secure hardware, software and services remain critical and integral to enterprise and government customers. BlackBerry also intends to drive adoption of its multi-platform BBM, deliver real- time, reliable and secure messaging through its Network Operations Center (NOC), and grow its enterprise mobility and mobile device management business through on-premise and cloud-based solutions for cross-platform devices as well as its own.
