Indonesia’s Emtek in licensing pact with BlackBerry, to develop BBM apps

• Emtek to develop new BBM apps and services for Android, iOS and Windows
• Its digital content arm KMK Online will establish an office in the Toronto area

CANADA’S BlackBerry Ltd has announced a strategic alliance with PT Elang Mahkota Teknologi Tbk (Emtek) that it said would provide cross-platform BBM users with access to enriched content and services.
 
The licensing agreement would allow Emtek to develop new BBM applications and services for Android, iOS and Windows Phone devices, BlackBerry said in a statement.
 
“Emtek’s impressive background and pedigree in entertainment, content and technology makes it the perfect partner to maximise the potential of BlackBerry’s messaging platform while meeting our financial and operational goals,” said BlackBerry executive chairman and chief executive officer John Chen (pic).
 
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 artistes.
 
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, BlackBerry said.
 
BlackBerry will also make the BBM application programming interface (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 maximise the potential of BBM to give customers access to:
 

• Content: Music and video streaming, games, sports and news channels, celebrity blogs and more;

• Commerce: Shopping, gifting and coupons/vouchers;

• Online to Offline (O2O) commerce: Booking movies, travel, health services or job postings; and

• Finance: Payment processing, money transfer, mobile phone re-charge, and utilities billing.

“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,” said Emtek chief executive officer Alvin Sariaatmadja.
 
“We see significant opportunity to grow the consumer BBM business globally and are excited to invest in research and development to further advance BBM,” he added.
 
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