RIM to produce smartphones in Brazil

SAO PAULO, CANADA: Canada's Research in Motion will start producing BlackBerry smartphones in Brazil, targeting young people and first-time users of the more sophisticated mobile phones in Latin America's largest economy, co-Chief Executive Jim Basillie told Reuters on Wednesday.

The company, based in Waterloo, Ontario, signed an accord with Singapore's Flextronics to manufacture the Curve 8520 model in Brazil, Basillie added.

The move comes as RIM pushes into the mainstream consumer market beyond its base of business and professional customers, who use the BlackBerry for secure wireless email service.

"It is extremely important for us to be here to manufacture locally and sell locally," Basillie said in an interview in Sao Paulo, where he is on a visit.

Mexico is the only country in Latin America where RIM currently makes phones. The company controls about 35 percent of the mobile phone device market in Latin America, he added, without disclosing numbers per country.

RIM may consider producing other models in Brazil in the future, Basillie added.

Shares of the company advanced 2 percent to C$77.04 in Toronto on Wednesday.