BlackBerry's back, all right!

On August 19th news broke that BlackBerry has risen again.  

 

 

Blackberry was an icon of the phone and smartphone revolutions in general, they had a keen focus on business with email and Blackberry messenger being key features on most phones. Lately Blackberry has gone through some transitions, switching to BB10, switching to Android shortly after, stopping manufacturing of hardware, and then shipping hardware to TCL for manufacturing. Unfortunately, most devices simply didn't sell with many naysayers saying physical keyboards having no place on the modern smartphones. I personally disagree and many also support that stance, physical keyboards are not for everyone but for some people nothing could make them happier. Unfortunately, financial troubles persisted, and BlackBerry was forced to stop making phones, again, TCL officially loses the rights to the BlackBerry Brand name at the end of august.   

 

BlackBerry managed to stay dead for about 4 months, but news broke on August 19th that a new suitor will make a 5G Phone for BlackBerry. That suitor is OnwardMobility, a Texas startup that's dedicated to modern security. Modern Security was also part of BlackBerry's selling points for their hardware and software; the software was a huge hit and is really what is keeping the company afloat. I don't have much faith that this relationship can last, the last partner TCL was a proven hardware manufacturer that has been successful in smartphones. OnwardMobility hasn't produced hardware before and has not proven itself in anything. The truth is that the only things that would differentiate a 5G BlackBerry from any other phone would be a physical keyboard that many miss from older BlackBerry's.  At least OnwardMobility is working with a division from Foxconn that also makes HMD's Nokia phones.

 

Whatever their scheming I just can't believe that this can work. BlackBerry simply can't survive if they continue with their current design language. Blackberry must focus on nailing the modern fundamentals and then slap on a keyboard to lure in the Blackberry faithful.  

 

 

And please, update your phones BlackBerry, the Key2 has been stranded on Android 8 for years. If BlackBerry does not nail the fundamentals to create a stable foundation for the house a tsunami of other phones will just destroy it.