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Blackberry rolls out new DTEK60 smartphone designed and built externally

Company pushing away fomr manufacturing handsets
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TORONTO — BlackBerry released on Tuesday its second smartphone designed and built externally, the latest development in the company’s push away from manufacturing handsets as it focuses more on its security software.

The DTEK60 may be the last phone distributed by the Waterloo, Ont.-based company as it moves to outsource hardware design, manufacturing and distribution.

TCL Corp. designed and manufactured the DTEK60, an Android-powered device that runs BlackBerry-developed software, though BlackBerry provided input in the design process.

The phone’s launch comes three months after the release of its predecessor, the DTEK50, which was the result of BlackBerry’s first such partnership with the Chinese firm.

“We want to provide choice to the market,” said Alex Thurber, BlackBerry’s senior vice-president for global device sales.

The newer phone, which sells for C$650, builds on the less-expensive DTEK50 that retails for C$429.

It boasts a bigger screen, longer battery life, a camera with greater resolution and a fingerprint sensor. Like the DTEK50, it has no physical keyboard.

Thurber wouldn’t disclose how many DTEK60s BlackBerry is aiming to sell, but said CEO John Chen has been very clear with him “as to how much I need to sell this.” As for the DTEK50, Thurber declined to say how many have been sold since its July release.

“I’m very happy with how it’s selling,” he said.

BlackBerry (TSX:BB) announced late last month it was exiting the hardware business, a move some experts have urged the company to make as it repeatedly posted disappointing sales figures despite the much-hyped release of new phones such as the Priv late last year. Through licensing agreements, other companies will make, design and distribute BlackBerry-branded phones that will use its operating system.