BlackBerry’s phones were once a cult smash amongst business people and BBM-addicted teens however the iconic handsets have finally bitten the dust. Once a market leader, the company has struggled to keep pace with modern handsets produced by rivals such as Apple and Samsung. After another quarterly loss, BlackBerry Ltd has announced it will no longer design its own phones after 14 years and will outsource manufacturing of its once-core hardware, including its flagship smartphone. BlackBerry reported another loss and sharp drop in revenue – and said Chief Financial Officer James Yersh would leave effective Oct. 1 for personal reasons. The company has shifted its focus to software that companies and governments use to manage their mobile devices. CEO John Chen said, ‘We have made investment over a billion-plus, all in software, all in security, and now we need to execute it.’ Analyst Ben Wood of the CSS Insight consultancy said, ‘BlackBerry can’t keep producing its own phones indefinitely just to serve a small subset of its clients addicted to its home-grown devices. ‘BlackBerry had made no secret of the fact that it might shut down its own phone-making business. Pushing it out to a third party is a sensible solution – but any manufacturer making BlackBerry branded devices will ultimately face the same challenges.’ In October 2015, Blackberry changed the direction of its handset business by producing its first smartphone running Google's Android operating system, rather than its own BB10 software. However, Mr Chen has admitted the device, which featured a slide-out physical keyboard, was too expensive to appeal to a mass market. The company has since launched a less expensive touchscreen-only Android handset, based on a phone released by Alcatel owner TCL. ~~~ cred: bbc
I remember when Blackberry was the shit like 5-8 years ago. Even then though I was never a fan of them.
Same..! Especially with school kids back in the day~ the keyboard was like the special feature but I didnt like it lol ... it's still used as my work place's phones but it's getting upgraded to iPhones I can't use/dunno how to use a blackberry
It's sad to see a once popular device company getting out of the hardware business... At least they are still there for software... Though I wonder how long will they last.
I didn't even have a choice with my phone back then, got stuck with a $0 phone. Blackberry was too luxurious at the time But I still don't know how to use a blackberry. Hell I probably don't even know how the newer iphone work cause I never used iphones The only apple device I owned was an Ipod Touch 3rd Generation I used an Galaxy S2 and then upgraded (and still using) Galaxy S4. I also have an LG X Power as my music player but I don't know if I should make the full switch from S4 to LG X Power. I wanted something cheap to replace my iTouch and LG X Power was my cheapest option.
It's scary how we're so dependant on one particular type of handset ~ lol I was happy with my Nokia phones back in school days, -and the Sony Ericsson series haha~ I dunno how to use to the galaxy series~ you would think touch screens are universally easy to use but not really
