Source: Europa Press News / Getty
After holding on for dear life, Blackberry has decided to pull the plug on its devices, well, the older models.
Per Business Insider, those remaining few who couldn’t let go of the once-beloved smartphone, thanks in large part to its QWERTY keypad, email service, and Blackberry Messenger, will see their phone no longer works. The company announced that older Blackberry models running on the company’s operating system would no longer work starting Tuesday, January 4.
“As of this date, devices running these legacy services and software through either carrier or Wi-Fi connections will no longer reliably function, including for data, phone calls, SMS, and 9-1-1 functionality,” the company announced in a statement. “We thank our many loyal customers and partners over the years,” the company further added.
For those who refuse to join the rest of the world in buying either an iPhone or Galaxy smartphone opting to purchase one of the newer Blackberry models, those phones will continue to work because they run on Android software. The news of Blackberry throwing in the towel comes after CEO John Chen announced in a statement shared on September 9 that the company was shifting towards being a software company while “decommissioning all of its legacy services.”
Per CNN, Blackberry launched its latest version of its operating system in 2013 while slowly phasing out its devices between 2016 and 2020. The New York Times reports the company decided to stop making smartphones in 2016.
It’s the end of an era for the phone that people like former President Barack Obama couldn’t seem to say goodbye to in a world that was transitioning to touchscreen phones. Obama loved his Blackberry so much he put up a fight to hold onto his stripped-down version of his Blackberry after being elected in 2008, despite many security officials being against the idea.
While the phones are cooked, Blackberry is still in the game. The company now is now a cybersecurity firm and brought in about $1 billion in revenue in 2020, according to Statista.
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Photo: Europa Press News / Getty
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