Last week BlackBerry released the Passport, its new flagship that has a rather unorthodox design, its square. The smartphone has powerful specifications, a 4.5-inch 1,440×1,440 pixel resolution display, BlackBerry OS 10.3 with BlackBerry Assistant and a massive 3,450mAh battery. There’s no doubt about the fact that its design is certainly the most intriguing aspect about it, BlackBerry has moved away from the rectangle-shaped smartphones being churned out by every other manufacturer. Turns out the company plans to stick with this strategy.
Ron Louks leads the devices division at BlackBerry and he told the Financial Post that since the company has pared losses it can now afford to take some risks and introduce at least one unconventional device every year.
He said that when it came down to design and being disruptive BlackBerry wants that “wow” factor, adding that not all of the company’s products are going to have it, “but we definitely have opportunities.”
As a company that has been pushed against the wall by the likes of Apple and Samsung, BlackBerry is now trying to find its own little niche. It doesn’t appear to be trying too hard to beat both giants instead its doing something different and hoping that its core user base will follow, and perhaps even consumers who are fed up with the monotony in the market.
Louks said that BlackBerry is already working on another unconventional device and so far it has received feedback from carriers. “I’m pretty happy with where we are at for next year,” he explained about the company’s future roadmap.
Unearthed patents reveal that BlackBerry might be working on a keyboard/full-touch hybrid in which the QWERTY keyboard will have a pivoting cover so that it can be tucked away when not in use. That may only remain a patent though since BlackBerry has not officially confirmed if its going to unveil this device in 2015.
Filed in . Read more about BlackBerry and BlackBerry Passport.