The almighty Blackberry, a one-time ruler of mobile phones, has finally given it a rest.
Back then, having a blackberry meant you were chilling with the big boys, especially if it was a Classic or a Porshe. It was a cool kid’s badge, and sadly, it became less exciting and less adaptive to our world as years passed.
In 2009, Blackberry at its peak owned 50 percent of the United States’s and 20 percent of the world’s smartphone market. Still, its market share decreased in late 2010 when touchscreen phones like the iPhone and Samsung emerged.
BlackBerry attempted a reboot in 2013 with BlackBerry OS 10, and in 2015 switched to developing android devices. Afterward, it started licensing its brand to third-party manufacturers in 2016.
On September 9th, 2020, Blackberry’s CEO John Chen first announced that the company would decommission its legacy software from January 4th, 2022.
Thus, all phones or tablets running BlackBerry’s software (BlackBerry 7.1 or earlier, BlackBerry 10, or its tablet operating system BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1 and earlier versions) will no longer function reliably, including data, phone calls, SMS, and 9-1-1 functionality.
However, newer Blackberry devices running on Android software will continue to work.
Also, In 2020, OnwardMobility, a firm in Texas, said it would be making 5G Android-powered BlackBerry devices with a full QWERTY keyboard, to be released in 2021. Yet, no news or updates has been on its website since January 2021.
According to Blackberry’s statement, RIM, the parent company, transitioned to selling cybersecurity software, netting around a billion dollars in revenue in 2020.
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