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Secure productivity and secure communications needs
- BlackBerry today announced the Government of Canada has selected BlackBerry for their secure productivity and secure communications needs. The Government of Canada also relies on BlackBerry for critical event management.
blogs.blackberry.com/en/2021/04/the-government-of-canada-selects-blackberry-for-secure-productivity-and-secur-communications
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Aug 19, 2020 · BlackBerry Ltd. is teaming up with a Texas-based startup to launch a new 5G-enabled version of its well-known smartphone in the first half of 2021 aimed at the North American and European...
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By Michael Hicks
last updated 9 March 2022
It's confirmed to have been canceled
The Blackberry 5G remained one of the most anticipated smartphones we'd heard about, ever since it was first announced in mid-2020... up until the project was officially canceled in 2022.
This was a much-hyped revival for the nostalgia-riddled Blackberry brand, though one being pushed by a company other than Blackberry itself.
The Blackberry line hasn't exactly been dormant since original company Research In Motion, or Blackberry Limited, stopped making phones under the name in 2017. However the hey-day of QWERT keyboard-toting productivity phones was certainly in the rear-view mirror.
From 2016 to late 2020, Chinese tech firm TCL signed up to release phones under the Blackberry name, and we saw a small smattering of devices like the KeyOne. However it seems that TCL struggled with the same issue that Research In Motion did - in a world of fantastic touch-screen phones, physical keyboards had become a niche proposition.
That's not to say that there's no place for keyboard phones, and some users swear by them.
This kind of user got to come out in force in mid-2020 when a little-known Texan company called OnwardMobility purchased the rights to the Blackberry name.
You can see a video of the company's CEO, Peter Franklin, announcing the new Blackberry below.
Fans were excited: OnwardMobility promised a 5G phone with a QWERTY keyboard, lots of features and top-notch security. More, the website implied future Blackberry 5G products would be coming too.
The Blackberry 5G from OnwardMobility isn't coming because the company shut down. But digging deeper, what happened to delay and then cancel the launch of this device?
Officially, there's not been any comment on this topic, and the message OnwardMobility posted on its website doesn't say anything. But that report from a Blackberry fan site we mentioned has some theories.
Apparently, the current CEO of Blackberry Limited (a company which still makes software and security tech) has been trying to distance the company from smartphones, as a recent sale in Blackberry's patents suggests. The theory is that the CEO soured on the idea of a new Blackberry smartphone.
Beyond that, it's very possible that OnwardMobility found it'd bitten off more than it could chew. We often see new companies try to make smartphones and give up after a few tries, and presumably it's a lot harder than it seems.
That's all speculation though, and unless someone breaks the silence, it's impossible to know for sure. Hopefully that'll happen, as we're sure it's a fascinating story.
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Aug 22, 2021 · Canadian technology company BlackBerry is working with Amazon on a platform for connected vehicles. The partnership comes as BlackBerry is hoping to turn a profit from its efforts on software...
Jul 27, 2021 · Now OnwardMobility has hinted that a new 5G BlackBerry smartphone is approaching the launch cycle. The company has opened a “ Pre-commitment Program” inviting enthusiasts to join the community.
Aug 19, 2020 · The once dominant smartphone, left in the lurch earlier this year when TCL announced it wasn't planning on making any more handsets on the BlackBerry name, is expecting to return in 2021 with both...
- Philip Michaels
Apr 12, 2021 · Shared Services Canada (SSC) signed a multi-year agreement giving public servants across the Government of Canada access to BlackBerry Spark® unified endpoint management (UEM) and BlackBerry SecuSUITE®. SSC is responsible for delivering modern, secure, and reliable digital services across the Government of Canada.
Aug 19, 2020 · OnwardMobility plans to launch a new 5G BlackBerry Android phone in the first half of 2021, the company said in a press release Wednesday. This isn't the first time the iconic brand has...
