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BlackBerry has announced a strategic alliance with PT Elang Mahkota Teknologi Tbk (Emtek) that will provide cross-platform BBM users with access to enriched content and services. This partnership accelerates BlackBerry’s vision to advance BBM for the consumer market through a licensing agreement with Emtek Group that enables the company to develop new BBM apps and services for Android, iOS and Windows Phones.
To strengthen the alliance, Emtek’s digital content arm KMK Online will establish an office in the Toronto area to work closely with BlackBerry. KMK Online has a wide breadth of media assets that will be combined with more than 20 of Emtek’s businesses and investments to bring significant value and services to BBM.
These investments span across broadcast television, Web properties, content production and artists. This means, in the coming months, users will have access to a plethora of content such as national free-to-air (FTA) television stations, one of the leading online video platforms, three exclusive production houses and a library of more than 100,000 hours of TV and premium content, just to name a few.
BlackBerry will also extend its open mobility ecosystem by making the BBM API available to Emtek in order to accelerate the growth of partners and service providers. Integrating BBM’s social, chat, commerce and content capabilities with Emtek’s substantial portfolio of assets and ecosystem will help maximize the potential of BBM to give customers access to new:
- Content – music and video streaming, games, sports and news channels, celebrity blogs and more
- Commerce – shopping, gifting and coupons/vouchers
- Online to Offline Commerce – booking movies, travel, health services or job postings
- Finance – payment processing, money transfer, mobile phone re-charge, and utilities billing
BBM cross-platform has seen significant popularity in Indonesia, growing to nearly 60 million monthly active users. Emtek, as Indonesia’s leading media content company, is an ideal partner to advance the innovation and capabilities of the BBM platform.
Licensing BlackBerry software and IP is part of the company’s strategy to increase revenue and improve margins. Not only does the alliance with Emtek facilitate this goal, it achieves operational and cost efficiencies while driving growth in the BBM business as Emtek will invest in people, infrastructure, technology development and the ecosystem.
“Emtek’s impressive background and pedigree in entertainment, content and technology makes them the perfect partner to maximize the potential of BlackBerry’s messaging platform while meeting our financial and operational goals,” said John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO, BlackBerry. “Our BBM users are passionate people that truly value BBM as the best way to share and connect with each other. We wanted to continue to offer our users even more with the most content-rich media and new services such as e-commerce, video, music and games.”
Alvin Sariaatmadja, CEO of Emtek said,
“Our partnership with BlackBerry will allow BBM users to access exclusive content from some of Emtek’s most sought-after entertainment, technology and digital products and services,”
“We see significant opportunity to grow the consumer BBM business globally and are excited to invest in research and development to further advance BBM.”
Partnering with Emtek enables the growth of both consumer and enterprise BBM. As Emtek advances the platform for the consumer market, BlackBerry will continue to advance the platform for enterprise with BBM Protected. BBM Protected provides enterprise-grade messaging for Android, iOS, BB10 and BBOS, and enables users to stay connected and engaged with each other through real time messaging, voice and video communications.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
