In January this year, the few BlackBerry fans left in the world were forced to say goodbye to legacy services for devices still running BlackBerry OS. Following that, it was found that the few BlackBerry apps still running on Android would reach the end of their run in August, later this year. Even then, not all hope was lost.
All the way back in August 2020, BlackBerry granted OnwardMobility the rights to develop a new Android-based, 5G-enabled, physical keyboard touting BlackBerry device. That was supposed to launch last year. It didn’t.
Then in a January blog post, OnwardMobility proudly exclaimed that it was, in fact, not dead – as many people assumed. It even went so far as to say it had problems with shipping in 2021 but would be providing “more regular updates starting this month that will clarify and answer many of your questions about the ultra-secure 5G enterprise smartphone (still with a keyboard!) we’re bringing to market.” You’ll notice it avoids any mention of ‘BlackBerry’ there.
The final nail for BlackBerry?
Sadly, new reports from both Crackberry and Android Authority claim that the dream of a BlackBerry-branded 5G phone with a physical keyboard is in fact dead in the water – and busy sinking.
This makes sense following BlackBerry’s announcement last week that it was planning to sell its patents “which relate primarily to mobile devices, messaging and wireless networking.” That kind of move looks a lot like an outstretched arm holding a sign that says “we want no part of this anymore”.
Maybe we’ll still get an “ultra-secure 5G enterprise smartphone” with a keyboard, just under a different name. We’ll have to wait for an official response from OnwardMobilty but if you were holding out hope for a new BlackBerry device, it’s time to bury that hope. At least until the next company comes along and attempts to reinvent the wheel.
Source: Android Authority