প্রকাশ: 02/01/2022
Classic BlackBerry phones is going to go out of date from 4
January 2022.
The company will stop running support for its classic
devices running BlackBerry 10, 7.1 OS and earlier starting from Tuesday,
reports CNN.
This means all of its older devices not running on Android
software will no longer be able to use data, send text messages, access the
internet or make calls, even to 911.
While most mobile users have moved on from BlackBerry -- the
last version of its operating system launched in 2013 -- the move to
discontinue support for its phones represents the end of what was once
considered bleeding-edge technology.
The company originally announced the news in September 2020
as part of its efforts to focus on providing security software and services to
enterprises and governments around the world under the name BlackBerry Limited.
BlackBerry (BB) has been mostly out of the phone business
since 2016, but over the years it continued to license its brand to phone
manufacturers, including TCL and more recently OnwardMobility, an Austin,
Texas-based security startup, for a 5G Blackberry device running on Android
software. (BlackBerry's Android devices are not affected by the end of
service.)
BlackBerry's old school cell phones with physical keyboards
from the late 1990s and early 2000s were once so popular people nicknamed them
"CrackBerries." The keyboard appealed to professionals who wanted the
flexibility of working outside the office with some of the tools they used on a
desktop computer.
The devices became a status symbol and fixture for people on
Wall Street, celebrities like Kim Kardashian, and even President Barack Obama,
thanks in part to its great reputation for security. At its peak in 2012,
BlackBerry had more than 80 million active users.
The company got its start in 1996 as Research in Motion with
what it called two-way pagers. Its first gadget, the "Inter@ctive Pager,"
allowed customers to respond to pages with a physical keyboard, a kind of text
messaging/email hybrid. Three years later, RIM introduced the BlackBerry name
with the BlackBerry 850.
Eventually, BlackBerry phones gained support for email,
apps, web browsing and BBM, an encrypted text messaging platform that predated
WhatsApp and survived long after BlackBerry was surpassed by its rivals.
But Apple's touchscreen revolution with the iPhone in 2007
made BlackBerry's offerings appear lacking. It tried touch screens and
slide-out keyboard models, with little success. It developed a few phones with
no physical keyboard, but those were missing BlackBerry's key differentiator:
its tactile keyboard.
BlackBerry eventually gave up on its own software, embracing
Android and layering its security software on top. It found some success in
enterprise security software and automotive software.
Although TCL stopped making devices with the BlackBerry name
in 2020, some fans are holding out for the arrival of OnwardMobility's
BlackBerry 5G device, which was originally expected to launch in 2021. Despite
the delay, its website still features a banner that says "coming
2021."
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