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.


"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".

However, it has failed to reverse a trend of falling revenues since 2010, when the company was at its peak. The popularity of BlackBerry Messenger and its high-tech email system made its phones a smash hit among young users and professionals alike, but Apple's iPhone and Google's Android software, with millions of apps and full touchscreens, rendered them obsolete.

BlackBerry's response, its BlackBerry 10 software, was released late and was poorly received, and the company's market share continued to dwindle despite a core of dedicated users.


The BlackBerry Priv, which failed to wow customers
The company's revenues continued to decline and under Chen, who took charge in 2013, it has focused on developing secure software for smartphones. It also launched BBM on Android and iOS.

Its last great effort was the Priv, which ran Android but featured the famous BlackBerry keyboard. It was well received but sales continued to disappoint.

Source:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/09/28/blackberry-to-stop-making-phones/

Eeyaaa! The race is only for the strong and resilient. Iphone next.

There was a time owning one was seen as a thing of prestige, and am talking less than 10 years ago..

No condition is permanent..

Nothing last forever and that is true. I remember back then, when you ask people their number, they opt to give you their pin.

The birth of whatsapp killed the BBM and blackberry monopoly. The advancement offered in the android os nailed the coffin.

Adios BBM.

Eya RIM(research In Motion) to become RHS( research has ended)

Imagine, that of pin was even more common among the ladies forming big gurls then, If you don't own a BB then, you are not a big boy and not in their class.

Some sacrificed their virginity for it, some became runs girls because of it and in the process, some were unlucky/unfortunate and were used for money rituals by the big men they were following all in the hustle to own a BB
Now BB is gradually becoming extinct

Naija girls and their excessive and insatiable appetite for money and material things be like...

TPAND:
Nothing last forever and that is true. I remember back then, when you ask people their number, they opt to give you their pin.

The birth of whatsapp killed the BBM and blackberry monopoly. The advancement offered in the android os nailed the coffin.

Adios BBM.

WhatsApp did not kill blackberry, blackberry killed itself when it rested on its laurels and over trusted it's loyal customers

Lalasticala

Adieu

Eyaa isn't this just so touching......at least they know when to move on. smart business

xtervaganza:
WhatsApp did not kill blackberry, blackberry killed itself when it rested on its laurels and over trusted it's loyal customers

Whatsapp killed blackberry. The evolution of whatsapp and its cross-platform facilities meant no need for BBM. You need to understand market trends and how it affects business before you quote on a topic as this.

TPAND:


Whatsapp killed blackberry. The evolution of whatsapp and its cross-platform facilities meant no need for BBM. You need to understand market trends and how it affects business before you quote on a topic as this.

pipe down a bit, mate. WhatsApp is just an app and it was available on all blackberry device when blackberry started going down.




What brought down blackberry is not just an app. You do realise people in Asia don't even use WhatsApp(especially China ). Do you know the billions of smart phones sold in China?



Now, to what really killed blackberry: they simply came to the party very very late. Their obsolete and very lite OS(from 4 to 7) Was embraced because of 2 things; security and otg messaging(email and messenger).



When apple came with iOS blackberry still maintained their position as the top smartphone giant because it was expensive and most people thought they were shiny toys for the rich until Android came around.



Android and iOS opened consumers eyes to real smartphone functionality. That a phone can do so muchore than just securing and messaging(like blackberry).



Now how blackberry died :- 1) even with the emergence of iOS they still owned the market. It would have been smart to release bb10 OS then. Blackberry OS 10 is a pretty solid OS but it came 5 years late and people had already embraced iOS and Android.



Had blackberry released bb10 OS just a year after iOS they would still remain the top dog. But their myopic management and blind trust in what their former CEO called "loyal customers" killed then



Now when bb10 OS came out app developers had already made millions of app for iOS and Android. Making another version of it for bb10 OS wasn't appealing coupled with the fact that consumers weren't buying the bb10 devices.



If you were an app developer. Will you waste time and resources on an app no one would use?




:• blackberry killed blackberry, not an ordinary app like WhatsApp




Thank you, sir .

xtervaganza:
pipe down a bit, mate. WhatsApp is just an app and it was available on all blackberry device when blackberry started going down.




What brought down blackberry is not just an app. You do realise people in Asia don't even use WhatsApp(especially China ). Do you know the billions of smart phones sold in China?



Now, to what really killed blackberry: they simply came to the party very very late. Their obsolete and very lite OS(from 4 to 7) Was embraced because of 2 things; security and otg messaging(email and messenger).



When apple came with iOS blackberry still maintained their position as the top smartphone giant because it was expensive and most people thought they were shiny toys for the rich until Android came around.



Android and iOS opened consumers eyes to real smartphone functionality. That a phone can do so muchore than just securing and messaging(like blackberry).



Now how blackberry died :- 1) even with the emergence of iOS they still owned the market. It would have been smart to release bb10 OS then. Blackberry OS 10 is a pretty solid OS but it came 5 years late and people had already embraced iOS and Android.



Had blackberry released bb10 OS just a year after iOS they would still remain the top dog. But their myopic management and blind trust in what their former CEO called "loyal customers" killed then



Now when bb10 OS came out app developers had already made millions of app for iOS and Android. Making another version of it for bb10 OS wasn't appealing coupled with the fact that consumers weren't buying the bb10 devices.



If you were an app developer. Will you waste time and resources on an app no one would use?




:• blackberry killed blackberry, not an ordinary app like WhatsApp




Thank you, sir .

spot on mate...

xtervaganza:
pipe down a bit, mate. WhatsApp is just an app and it was available on all blackberry device when blackberry started going down.




What brought down blackberry is not just an app. You do realise people in Asia don't even use WhatsApp(especially China ). Do you know the billions of smart phones sold in China?



Now, to what really killed blackberry: they simply came to the party very very late. Their obsolete and very lite OS(from 4 to 7) Was embraced because of 2 things; security and otg messaging(email and messenger).



When apple came with iOS blackberry still maintained their position as the top smartphone giant because it was expensive and most people thought they were shiny toys for the rich until Android came around.



Android and iOS opened consumers eyes to real smartphone functionality. That a phone can do so muchore than just securing and messaging(like blackberry).



Now how blackberry died :- 1) even with the emergence of iOS they still owned the market. It would have been smart to release bb10 OS then. Blackberry OS 10 is a pretty solid OS but it came 5 years late and people had already embraced iOS and Android.



Had blackberry released bb10 OS just a year after iOS they would still remain the top dog. But their myopic management and blind trust in what their former CEO called "loyal customers" killed then



Now when bb10 OS came out app developers had already made millions of app for iOS and Android. Making another version of it for bb10 OS wasn't appealing coupled with the fact that consumers weren't buying the bb10 devices.



If you were an app developer. Will you waste time and resources on an app no one would use?




:• blackberry killed blackberry, not an ordinary app like WhatsApp




Thank you, sir .

You just nailed it right over here, good to see a techie like you on ds platform.
You re updated about d whole issue; blackberry shot themself in the leg. Thank God they realized and switch lane to software support/development unlike Nokia that failed technically by not following the android/ios trend.