BlackBerry back to the roots, bets on physical keyboards
Most of the BlackBerry’s new models to include physical keyboards
BlackBerry had a lot of hope at the beginning of 2013. The Canadian manufacturer launched a new version of its operating system and a plenty of promising smartphones with large touchscreens. However, despite all the efforts, BlackBerry had a really tough year. The company didn’t manage to sell a sufficient number of devices and its market share dropped. Moreover, BlackBerry almost completely left some of the key markets, while on the others BlackBerry OS became the fourth operating system after Android, iOS and Windows Phone.
All problems in 2013, led to many changes in the operating structure of the company including a change in the CEO. The new leader, John Chen, now has a different idea and hopes for the company’s future. Speaking to Bloomberg, Chen reveals that most of the future BlackBerry smartphones will have physical keyboards instead of virtual. It looks like this is a logical move, since BlackBerry is known with its excellent QWERTY keyboards and there is still a niche in the mobile market that the company can exploit.
In December, BlackBerry completed a deal with a company called Foxconn. Under the agreement, Foxconn will produce smartphones for BlackBerry and the first one is expected to be without a keyboard, a device running the new BlackBerry 10 OS. Through Foxconn, the Canadian OEM will try to improve its product life cycle and decrease manufacturing related costs. On the other hand, Blackberry bets on its software services and most of all of the BBM, a service that gains popularity across different operating systems. The overall effect of the changes remains to be seen. Probably the current 2014 year will be crucial for the future of the company.
Source: Slash Gear
