It has almost been an entire year since BlackBerry set upon its perceived path to recovery, with great fanfare. The company conducted six separate events in six different cities around the world to celebrate the launch of its new platform, BlackBerry 10 and the announcement of two new devices, the Z10 and the Q10. Both devices failed to make their mark, and the Z30 didn’t prove to be a hit either. It became clear early in the year that BlackBerry’s new devices weren’t going to be a success and it appears that the company itself knew that, seeing as how it cancelled plans to release two more devices in 2013.
The Wall Street Journal discovered this information buried deep inside the SEC filings that the company made after revealing its Q3, 2013 fiscal results, a quarter where it lost $4.4 billion. The company said that it cancelled the launch “to mitigate the identified inventory risk.” The devices, rumored as the Cafe and Kopi series, were believed to be low-end devices geared towards emerging markets. There weren’t even expected to be released in North America or Europe. BlackBerry has now made significant changes to have it makes smartphones. It has partnered with Foxconn for five years to develop smartphones for emerging markets, whereas Waterloo will focus on high-end devices preferred by customers in Western markets as well as its enterprise customers.
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