Yesterday BlackBerry made the official announcement that they would no longer be remaining in the hardware business. Instead the company will be focusing on software development, and will also be licensing its brand so that other companies can make BlackBerry devices in the future. It sounded like like this was pretty much the end, at least as far BlackBerry-designed phones are concerned.
However for fans of BlackBerry’s design, especially when it comes to the physical QWERTY keyboard that made the company famous, you can rest assured that it won’t be going anywhere. Speaking to BNN’s Amber Kanwar (via CrackBerry), BlackBerry’s CEO John Chen reassured fans that the QWERTY BlackBerry phone is here to stay.
Chen does not state when we can expect a QWERTY BlackBerry phone, but he did state that this will now fall onto other brands who plan to license the brand to make their phones. Chen also stated that the company is expected to be very selective when it comes to managing the brand, so hopefully even though the company will no longer make their own phones, they will be able to ensure that the quality is still there.
We’re sure many are eager to see what the future holds for BlackBerry following their latest announcement, but we guess we’ll just have to wait and see if this new strategy will work out for the company.