WATERLOO, ONTARIO, CANADA -- BlackBerry has entered into a five-year strategic partnership with Foxconn, whereby the ODM will build smartphones for Indonesia and other emerging markets starting early in 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 John Chen, executive chair and CEO of BlackBerry. "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."
Under the partnership, Foxconn will manufacture products for BlackBerry at facilities in Indonesia and Mexico. 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 of 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."
Earlier this year, BlackBerry had announced the end of manufacturing deals with Celestica and Jabil.