Shahzoor Ali
In late 2016, BlackBerry started issuing a license for its Android-based mobile platform to third-party hardware manufacturers in its process of switching to software only company. The Chinese giants TCL were the first of three partners to approach and came up with the BlackBerry KEYone smartphone, followed by BB Merah Putih of Indonesia, who manufactured an exclusive BlackBerry Aurora for its country, and to make a comeback in India, one of the oldest mobile distributors Optiemus has licensed the brand ‘BlackBerry’ for the region.
Each of these companies cater respective regions — TCL covering the most worldwide except South Asian countries which are now dealt by BlackBerry Merah Putih and Optiemus. This alone factor rises an issue for TCL’s newly launched KEYone availability in India and other neighboring countries.
Starting from June, it is said that Optiemus will spend a huge capital of Rs. 200 crore to relaunch the brand ‘BlackBerry’ in India by launching a new smartphone pricing around Rs. 40,000 followed by a cheaper Rs. 20,000~ model in July. The higher priced phone could be the BlackBerry KEYone itself while the latter will probably be the first ever ‘Made in India’ BlackBerry from Optiemus’ own manufacturing plant.
We are expecting Rs2,000 crore sales in this fiscal,
– Ashok Gupta, Chairman at Optiemus
All in all, we are excited! India will finally get to see BlackBerry back in action after a long sorrow gap. What do you guys think? Can BlackBerry revive in India? Share your thoughts in comments section below.
It is toooo late. BB should have model equivalent to 7+
admin@bhokray.com
blackberry will surely hit the market in a big way if optimus put some good adds every where like how all the others do in the market.
Need to upgrade keyone specifications and should be priced mid range as already market have lots of choice with higher configuration with lowest price tag.