RIM sets up shop in Penang, starts manufacturing devices locally

ooo rupanya ada kilang buat phone BB di Penang..naper rega mahal gak..poracit


Penang's industrial zone recently welcomed a new addition to their already bustling part of town when RIM opened shop there earlier this month.

“To support the growing demand for BlackBerry smartphones in Asia and across the world, we are pleased to expand our manufacturing operations to Malaysia. We continuously strive to improve the way we serve our customers and partners, and fundamentally believe that producing BlackBerry smartphones in Malaysia will help achieve this goal.” -- Dany Bolduc, Vice President of Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam

Although the press statement doesn't mention which of RIM's many BlackBerry devices will be manufactured here in Malaysia Currently, the Penang plant is solely responsible for manufacturing the BlackBerry Curve 3G, and the units made here will be shipped around the world support the demand for this entry level device. We're pretty sure that the Penang plant will increase its production portfolio soon too, especially since RIM seems to be on roll by announcing a number of new devices.

Unfortunately, moving part of the production line to Malaysia probably won't make any difference to the pricing structure of BlackBerry devices here, but the telcos are already doing a good job in making them accessible to the market, so kudos to them for that.