Those who have been eagerly awaiting the launch of a new BlackBerry smartphone are in for some bad news, for such a phone is as good as dead at the moment. The reason, according to Android Police is that OnwardMobility no longer holds the license to use the BlackBerry brand name. That again has to do with BlackBerry having sold the remainder of the mobile patent portfolio it still had for $600 million just weeks back. Post that, BlackBerry also stated they are ending support to their key Android apps by August 2022.
It has just been the beginning of this year that OnwardMobility had come out from hibernation of sorts and had stated they are still there. ‘Contrary to popular belief, we are not dead.’ That was how they described their current scenario, besides also promising more regular updates on what they are up to with the all new 5G enabled BlackBerry smartphone with a physical keyboard that they said they have been working on.
The Austin-based start-up had earlier promised to launch the said BlackBerry handset sometime in mid-2011 though that never happened. The company reiterated they are still there and are on track to launch the phone but stopped short of committing to any launch window this time.
Interestingly, the company never came up with any prototype or even renders of the phone, which makes us wonder what progress they have made so far on the 5G BlackBerry phone they said they are making for more than a year now. Also, with this being the current scenario, what also remains to be seen is how OnwardMobility takes things from here onwards. Will they launch the phone they have been making so far under a different brand or just drift into oblivion are just some of the things that we’d like to know.
Update: Here it is finally. OnwardMobility has confirmed on its website it is shutting down. With that, the Texas-based start-up’s plans to launch an ultra-secure 5G BlackBerry smartphone with physical buttons come to an end too.
“We want to thank you all for the tremendous amount of support that you have given us since we first launched OnwardMobility. However, it is with great sadness that we announce that OnwardMobility will be shutting down, and we will no longer be proceeding with the development of an ultra-secure smartphone with a physical keyboard,” the company mentioned on its home page.
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.
