All hopes of a BlackBerry revival were dashed this week after the company's mobile licensee OnwardMobility officially announced that it is shuttering its doors for good. Less than two decades ago, BlackBerry was the most coveted smartphone brand in the world, ahead of the Nokias and the Samsungs. However, the company's inability to address the growing popularity of Android and iPhones now means that it has been sent to the annals of history.
Following BlackBerry's decision to exit the smartphone market in 2016, the company announced a brand licensing deal with TCL that ended in 2020. Later that year, Texas-based tech startup OnwardMobility announced that it had partnered with BlackBerry and FIH Mobile Limited to make a 5G phone with a physical QWERTY keypad. That device, however, has now been scrapped.
In a post on its official website this week, OnwardMobility announced that it is shutting down with immediate effect. As a result, the much-anticipated phones under development are being scrapped. OnwardMobility did not give any reason for its shutdown but said the decision was a well-thought-out one. Over the past year, the Texas-based startup was working on a 5G smartphone with a physical QWERTY keypad. The device would have been marketed under the BlackBerry brand as part of a licensing agreement between the two companies. The deal rekindled hopes among long-time BlackBerry fans of a possible revival of the beloved brand. However, that dream is now dead, and it might be for good this time.
R.I.P BlackBerry: You Will Be Missed
Following the 2020 deal between BlackBerry Inc. and OnewardMobility, the latter promised that a BlackBerry-branded 5G smartphone with a physical keypad would come in 2021. However, 2021 came and went with no word on a new BlackBerry smartphone. Amidst speculations about the status of OnwardMobilty, the company last month reaffirmed plans to release 5G BlackBerry smartphones in 2022. Many took it as good news and expected the new devices to hit retail shelves sometime this year. Those hopes, however, have now been dashed with the latest development.
It's not immediately clear what happened within the last month that forced the company to shutter its services despite sounding so positive just a few weeks ago. That said, the result is not a total surprise, as recent reports suggested that OnwardMobilty's BlackBerry project had hit a dead end. In addition, BlackBerry recently announced that it was selling its mobile patents to Delaware-based Catapult IP Innovations, further fueling rumors that not all was well at OnwardMobility. Either way, it will now be interesting to see whether any other company will come forward to revive the Blackberry brand or if it will go the way of the dodo.
Source: OnwardMobility