January 11, 2022
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0The Complete End of BlackBerry: Legendary Smartphones to Stop Working
10 years ago, BlackBerry in the phone industry was a sign of class and status. However, this Canadian company, like Nokia, did not have time to adjust to the sharp shift in the mobile market landscape.
From January 4 of this year, BlackBerry stops supporting mobile phones on its own operating systems BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry.
The list of secure smartphones to use right now is here.
What does it mean?
As a result of the shutdown, numerous branded services will stop working. Together with them, a partial or complete shutdown of such basic functions as SMS messages, mobile internet, or connection to cellular networks, in general, is possible in several countries.
The shutdown will primarily affect BlackBerry Link, BlackBerry Desktop Manager, BlackBerry World (app store), BlackBerry Protect, BlackBerry Messenger, and BlackBerry Blend. However, the problems may not end there: the company warns that smartphones running BlackBerry OS may stop working with SMS and voice calls — this even applies to dialing emergency numbers.
There may also be problems with internet connection in mobile networks and Wi-Fi. The company originally planned to stop supporting the platform in 2019, but the deadline was postponed to January 4, 2022.
It’s not just about the lack of security updates and some other familiar “bugs.” Today, the company does not undertake to guarantee the stable operation of even basic functions like calls and sending text messages.
Another nuance is that this will not affect BlackBerry smartphones on Android in any way. This is a rare item to find in stores, but they can be found on sale or in use somewhere.
BlackBerry is completing a long transition from a smartphone manufacturing business model to a software-based business model.
The most striking cybersecurity fails of 2021 are here.
Is everything going well with the company?
The BlackBerry brand previously belonged to the Canadian company Research in Motion (RIM), founded in 1984. Then, in 1996, the company’s first pager was released, and only in 1999 did the phone appear.
After 10 years, the company was able to increase its market presence by 20% (Nokia occupied the leading position).
Then, in 2010, the two leaders were displaced by iPhone and Android mobile phones, which still occupy leading positions today.
In 2013, RIM changed its name to BlackBerry. However, this step did not allow it to regain its former popularity, and its presence in the market decreased to 0.1%.
The management’s next step was to completely stop the production of smartphones, and transfer the rights to their production to the Chinese company TCL.
In 2018, TCL released the latest BlackBerry smartphone and in 2020 transferred all rights to the American startup Onward Mobility. However, the company has not exercised the rights to this day.
It is worth noting that the latest global version of Blackberry OS was released in 2014. Since 2015, the company has been producing smartphones only running Android. However, support for the proprietary operating system continued until 2018, after which the devices stopped receiving regular patches to improve security.
Now the Canadian company BlackBerry specializes in the development of software and services in cybersecurity. According to the latest quarterly results, the company’s revenue amounted to $184 million, of which $128 million was brought by the cybersecurity division.
How to be secure on the internet? Read our safety guide here.
