Tag: blackberry

BlackBerry branded smartphones to continue through third-party manufacturers

| October 10, 2016

On the heels of an announcement of an exit from the in-house hardware market, it unveiled a new device.

CEO John Chen recently announced that his company would no longer be manufacturing hardware, following up with an announcement that BlackBerry branded smartphones are on the way. The company has revealed to upcoming launch of a new physical keyboard phone release. This new mobile device will hit the shelves within the next six months.

This announcement was made by a top sales executive at BlackBerry within an interview with the BBC.

Alex Thurber, the senior vice president of global device sales, explained that he was aware that the company’s withdrawal from in-house hardware production would make headlines. He added that they were counting on the headlines to draw attention to the company. Then, he explained that BlackBerry branded smartphones would continue to be produced. They will be manufactured by third party suppliers.

Blackberry branded smartphones - Image of Blackberry Passport phoneThe next smartphone to wear the company’s logo will feature its distinctive physical keyboard. In a market where many devices look exceptionally similar, BlackBerry continually tries to stand out.

The next BlackBerry branded smartphones will have the physical keyboard many users love.

The company will rely on its partners to produce the new keyboarded smartphone. It had previously been leaked that BlackBerry was designing a couple of additional devices. When John Chen announced the end of the company’s hardware manufacturing, it looked like those smartphones were scrapped.

According to Thurber, Chen didn’t discuss those models during the previous announcement as final decisions had not yet been made. He didn’t know if they would be brought to market. Now it appears that the decisions have been made. “There will still be a keyboard-based BlackBerry device, designed and distributed within the next six months,” said Thurber.

He pointed out that the keyboards in the BlackBerry branded smartphones will set them apart from Samsung and Apple. Those industry leaders offer exclusively touch screen keyboards. “think there’s a demand for keyboard phones. As we’ve been showing mockups of what we’ve been working on, to our carrier and distributor partners, they are very excited about this,” explained Thurber.

BlackBerry smartphones are finally being retired

| September 29, 2016

CEO John Chen did everything he could think of to keep them going, but has finally admitted defeat.

BlackBerry smartphones were once the “it” devices. People loved them so much they were called “crackberries.” Where we see iPhones and Samsung Galaxy phones today, the Canadian handset maker once held a tremendous segment of the market.

Since then, BlackBerry fell from its high throne and has been plummeting for years.

Industry experts have been predicting the demise of BlackBerry smartphones for quite some time. At the same time, the struggling company was determined to keep trying, particularly when John Chen took over as CEO. Chen was quoted repeatedly saying that the brand would not give up on hardware.

Blackberry Smartphones Retired - Blackberry smartphone In a dramatic turnaround attempt, BlackBerry released one mobile phone after the next. They launched the Passport, a unique square-shaped device, and several others. They even released mobile devices based on Google’s Android operating system instead of the company’s own proprietary OS.

BlackBerry smartphones will no longer be designed, ordered or sold following this fiscal year.

In a press release, Chen announced the end of the company’s 20 year effort in the mobile hardware marketplace. The company first started in mobile devices in 1996 when it was selling two-way pagers. “The company plans to end all internal hardware development and will outsource that function to partners,” said Chen.

This announcement was made closely on the heels of its quarterly revenue report. Investors clearly saw potential in BlackBerry’s intentions to give up smartphones. Despite the notable drop in quarterly revenue, the announcement of the cessation of its hardware production and sales caused shares to climb 3 percent in premarket trading.

The company also announced that BlackBerry smartphones will continue to exist in some markets. This will occur through a royalty-collecting licensing agreement through the PT BB Merah Putih joint venture. That project is led by PT Tiphone Mobile Indonesia Tbk, the biggest wireless carrier in Indonesia. It will produce BlackBerry branded mobile phones running on Android. The mobile devices will be distributed exclusively within Indonesia. At the moment, no other market will see the sale of devices under this brand.