Selling smartphones through major carriers proves beneficial for OEMs because they can use the carrier’s retail presence to reach out to a wider section of the consumer market. While it remains to be seen if this has an effect on sales of BlackBerry’s latest device, two of the biggest carriers in the U.S. aren’t giving hope on the company’s devices just yet. Both Verizon and AT&T have confirmed that they will offer the BlackBerry Classic to customers willing to purchase one.
Earlier today launch events were conducted in three cities around the world to formally launch BlackBerry Classic. The smartphone looks back at BlackBerry’s glory days and brings back certain elements from some of the most popular BB devices. BlackBerry Classic is primarily geared towards the enterprise and business users.
Though that doesn’t mean BB won’t try its hand at the consumer market. Verizon and AT&T have confirmed that their customers will be able to purchase the Classic in early 2015, clearly these carriers are still willing to support BlackBerry even when some of their rivals have given up.
The carriers haven’t confirmed pricing and release dates as yet so we’ll have to wait for that information. AT&T also deemed it fit to mention in its press release that the carrier was first in the U.S. to sell a smartphone from this Canadian company, it sold the BlackBerry 950 back in 1999.