BlackBerry isn’t done with the smartphone market as it plans
to make a comeback this year under its new company, OnwardMobility.
BlackBerry-branded smartphones with 5G are launching later this year.
BlackBerry’s partnership with TCL ended last year, and after
a few months, it signed with OnwardMobility. CEO Peter Franklin confirmed new
BlackBerry phones for this year with the familiar physical keyboard but modern
features inside, IT Home reported. The company is currently working with
Foxconn to develop a new BlackBerry 5G smartphone with a physical keyboard, the
report added.
Research
BlackBerry phones were once seen as the handset of choice
among the security-minded, as their devices could use passcodes and type them
on a virtual keyboard. But when iPhones and Android devices entered the market,
BlackBerry smartphones had trouble competing. BlackBerry, which will be renamed
Onward Mobility Inc., said Tuesday it hopes to release a smartphone running the
Android operating system later this year. Blackberry founder Mike Lazaridis
announced the name change at the company’s Research Centre in Waterloo, Ont.,
with Malcolm Francis, a vice president with BlackBerry. Onward Mobility is a
subsidiary that Lazaridis and Francis established in late November to develop a
phone based on a heavily modified version of Android.
BlackBerry executives said they would need the government’s support for the proposed model. Among the types of government-sanctioned cellular frequencies are those that are favoured by telecommunication providers that are trying to become 5G wireless networks, said Kate Weiler, president of BlackBerry Mobility Solutions, at a briefing with reporters. OnwardMobility is working with a small group of wireless carriers in North America, South America and Europe, she said.
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