BlackBerry phones, which were once used as mobile handset with their trademark of physical keyboard are effectively dead from today onwards as the Canadian company behind them pulls its support.
The company itself which now provides security software’s, had been maintaining support for the devices “as an expression of thanks” to loyal customers.
The development comes after the Canadian company’s recent warning on its website, that the iconic devices which it has not made since 2016 “will no longer reliably function” from 4 January, including for calls and texts.
On its recent blog post the company said:
“When we started WhatsApp in 2009, people’s use of mobile devices looked very different from today.
“The Apple App Store was only a few months old. About 70% of smartphones sold at the time had operating systems offered by BlackBerry and Nokia.” said the Canadian company.
In Addition, the company stressed that during the WhatsApp period BlackBerry had less than 1% market share and Apple and Samsung dominated worldwide phone sales.
In 2016 the company had completed its transition to a security software business and it also stopped making its own smartphones.
It decided to continue maintaining the software “as an expression of thanks” to loyal partners and customers who appreciated its physical keyboard as well as its security features.
However, the Canadian company promised that “Blackberry” features may emerge again, but the old phones are now fit for little better than recycling.
