End Of An Era As Blackberry Stops Making Phones
After 14 years in the mobile phone business, embattled maker Blackberry has announced that it is no longer going to design its own smartphones.
The company, which is famed for its “Qwerty” keyboard mobile phones that were the choice handset for professionals, has been struggling to keep up with market leaders Apple and Samsung as the world has moved to touchscreens.
As a result, the loss-making business said it is going to focus on creating software for mobile phones, rather than the devices themselves. Instead, it will outsource the brand to other manufacturers.
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“The company plans to end all internal hardware development and will outsource that function to our partners,” said John Chen, chief executive and executive chairman of Blackberry. “We are focusing on software development, including security and applications.”
The news comes as Blackberry reported losses of $372m (£286m) in the last quarter, compared with a profit of $51m in the same period last year. Blackberry’s sales so far this year have fallen to $734m down from $1.1bn in the first six months of 2015.
The demise of Blackberry’s handset making division follows efforts to compete with other smartphones. The Canadian company released its first Android smartphone last year, which was followed with the Dtek50 this summer, billed as “the world’s most secure Android smartphone”.
Telegraph UK
