BlackBerry stops production of BlackBerry Phones.

BlackBerry's CEO John Chen on Wednesday released a statement stating that BlackBerry will no longer produce its own phones. He said the company plans to end all internal hardware development and will outsource that function to partners. This will allow them reduce capital requirements and enhance return on invested capital.

This was a long time coming anyway. BlackBerry like Nokia became obsolete with the rise of Apple's iPhone and phones running Google's Android software.

Once upon a time BlackBerry controlled one-fifth of the phone market(this was in 2009). Today, it holds a tiny fraction of 1 percent, according to Gartner. BlackBerry tried to arouse people's interest by making android based BlackBerry phones but that didn't work.

So is this the end of the road for Blackberry phones?

No! No it is not. BlackBerry will still produce phones but will no longer make the devices(hardware) itself. The production of the phone(hardware)will be turned to external manufacturers. This will allow the brand focus on software and services.

Cnet reports that BlackBerry will rely on others to design, build and sell the devices and will only collect a royalty fee on any phone sold by its partners