EXCLUSIVE: BlackBerry phones designed in India may be sold globally soon

• The next phones will be designed for India, but may be sold around the world.
• Optiemus Infracom holds the license for distribution and manufacturing on BlackBerry phones.
  
• The company will be announcing new smartphones in the next two quarters.

Optiemus Infracom, the company that holds licenses to BlackBerry's brand in India, is preparing to launch new phones under the iconic brand. What's interesting though is that all of these phones will be designed and manufactured in India, by Optiemus, and tailored to the Indian market.

According to Hardip Singh, executive director of Optiemus, as per the licensing agreement with BlackBerry, the Indian company is supposed to design and manufacture smartphones for the brand. The same applies to others who hold the license. So, TCL and BB Merah Putih, the two other license holders, could also design their own phones and sell them in their respective regions under the brand’s umbrella.

Since Optiemus will be manufacturing the upcoming devices, they will be sold in India first and then the rest of the world, should other license holders, like TCL, choose to do so.

Singh said that his company wants to sell BlackBerry phones across all price ranges, though he can't provide final prices for the devices yet.

However, he did confirm that these devices would be announced in India within the next two quarters. BlackBerry will continue its discourse around security, but it's no longer focusing on enterprise and business customers alone. Instead, Singh says he wants the general consumer to recognise the importance of security and hence, BlackBerry.