That 5G Blackberry phone, it is unlikely to launch now
India Today
Onward Mobility, which took over BlackBerry in August last year, had promised to return to the smartphone market with a 5G smartphone.
BlackBerry phones may not make a comeback to the market ever. The Texas-based company Onward Mobility, which took over the smartphone brand in August last year, had promised to return to the smartphone market with a 5G smartphone. The smartphone was expected to arrive with a Qwerty keypad. However, multiple sources have confirmed that OnWard and Blackberry’s 5G phones will never see the light of the day.
As per a CrackBerry report, OnwardMobility and their BlackBerry 5G keyboard phone dream are dead. Another report by Android Police confirmed that Onward Mobility’s license to use the Blackberry branding was recently canceled. The report stated that “BlackBerry is looking to further distance itself from its days as a smartphone vendor after selling the remainder of its mobile patent portfolio for $600 million earlier this month.”
The report comes a day after Onward Mobility put up a blog saying that they are bringing a 5G phone with a keypad to the market.
“Everyone has eagerly awaited additional information following our last announcement, but 2021 was truly a challenging year to launch a new phone, much less one with the high expectations we set and the fact that we want to get it right! While we encountered various delays that prevented us from shipping in 2021, we will be providing more regular updates starting this month that will clarify and answer many of your questions about the ultra-secure 5G enterprise smartphone (still with a keyboard!) we’re bringing to market,” the blog read.
In January 2022, Blackberry noted in a blog post that the legacy services for BlackBerry phones will stop working from January i.e today. The company said that the legacy services for BlackBerry 7.1 OS and earlier, BlackBerry 10 software, BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1, and earlier versions, will no longer be available after January 4, 2022. The devices running these legacy services and software through either carrier or Wi-Fi connections will no longer function, including for data, phone calls, SMS and emergency numbers. The company, however, noted that the BlackBerry phones that are running on Android OS will continue to function. “Android devices will not be impacted by the EOL of infrastructure services unless they are receiving redirected email sent to a BlackBerry hosted email address, or assigned an Enhanced Sim Based License (ESBL) or Identity Based License (IBL),” the company had said.
