Once upon a time BlackBerry was the most popular smartphone company in the premium segment, but those days are already in the past, and it's a shame. Before the release of iPhone smartphones BlackBerry were considered the best and most premium in terms of quality. The company offered its consumers devices with a full-fledged qwerty keyboard, which other manufacturers either could not offer or offered less attractive options.
What happened to BlackBerry or how did the company die out before our eyes?
Not so long ago BlackBerry announced the termination of cooperation with TCL, which was engaged in the production and design of smartphones of this brand based on the operating system Android. Sales of devices will end on August 31, 2020. In this article, we will look at how BlackBerry attracted consumers in the past, and how it got to the state in which it is today.
Before that, we will examine the official letter that was published in Twitter – account BlackBerry:
When TCL Communication announced in December 2016 that BlackBerry would partner with TCL on technology to create new state-of-the-art BlackBerry smartphones available worldwide, we were very excited and excited accept such a challenge. Our series of Key smartphones, starting with KeyOne, have been highly acclaimed by the community BlackBerry. Not only the hardware designed and manufactured by TCL Communication made these phones great, but also the high security and software features that BlackBerry Limited offered. The support of BlackBerry Limited has been an important element in providing devices such as BlackBerry KeyOne, Motion, Key2 and we are delighted to have worked with them on these projects over the past few years.
BlackBerry also announced that the company will stop selling the devices on August 31st. TCL will not have the rights to design, develop and sell smartphones BlackBerry. And owners of the company's devices need not worry, as TCL will support the phones already on the market until August 31, 2022.
Back in 2009 BlackBerry was named the fastest growing company in the world, but today it is an example of how fast technology is changing. BlackBerry was considered the leader in premium phones and ranked Apple. When the first one came out iPhone, in BlackBerry they considered him not a competitor, and that was their mistake.
BlackBerry Z10 to BB10. By the way, this is a great smartphone.
Later, the company was engaged in the release of phones on the operating system BlackBerry 10 – it was a good alternative Android with interesting gestures that are so popular today. However, this operating system did not offer an adequate app store, which made using devices BlackBerry not entirely pleasant and relevant.
All this time, phones BlackBerry were considered more of a business solution, and the target audience in this segment, of course, is not as large as the case with iPhone. Perhaps that is why the company was unable to stay afloat even if it offered quite interesting and high-quality solutions in the business segment, including the issue of software and data security.
BlackBerry Priv is the company's first smartphone based on Android, released back in 2015
Later – in cooperation with TCL – BlackBerry decided to release smartphones based on the operating system Android (Priv was the first), and many then thought that the company had a chance to revive, but it is obvious that even Android did not help her to her feet. The company offered both touchscreen devices and phones with QWERTY keyboards. The most popular phone based on the operating system Android from BlackBerry is KeyOne. During the year the company managed to sell 850 thousand of these devices, and for BlackBerry, of course, these are quite large numbers. But if we take the scale of the entire market, then these are rather modest indicators.
By the way, not so long ago the head BlackBerry spoke negatively about folding devices. Perhaps this position of the Canadian company is also the reason for their failed sales.
I'm really sorry that everything ends this way, because the phones BlackBerry on Android seemed like a good offer and looked pretty premium, interesting. They were unlike anything that other manufacturers offer us. They were different from Chinese phones with their sloppy multi-colored back covers. Smartphones BlackBerry were strict and premium with quality materials.
BlackBerry Key2
In Russia, you can buy BlackBerry Key2 LE in a plastic case for only 35,000 rubles. This is not such a big amount, considering that it has all the software features associated with the devices of the Canadian manufacturer, moreover, it runs on a Snapdragon processor, has a good 4.5-inch display, good cameras, and a 3000 mAh battery. Yes, it may not be able to compete with phones from the Chinese for the same money, but where else can you find such an original and unusual device? With BlackBerry you will stand out even from the owners iPhone.
What do we have in the end? And we have, obviously, a situation where the market is losing variety. If you look at what manufacturers offer us today Android, you can understand that we are faced with the same type and boring phones. Even now, using Xiaomi I understand that this is a boring gadget. It is similar to all other devices. Once upon a time we lost our devices on Windows Phone, and today we also lose BlackBerry. It is difficult to say what will happen next, but it is obvious that the market is becoming less diversified.
Share your opinion in the comments and subscribe to us Telegram.