Farewell to Blackberry handsets.

[Acura604]

Saw this coming ages ago but here we are....




BlackBerry to stop making phones, reports sharp drop in revenue - Business - CBC News

BlackBerry stop manufacturing the hardware for its smartphones and instead outsource that to partners, the Waterloo-based company said on Wednesday as it reported another loss and sharp drop in revenue.

Shares of BlackBerry gained more than five per cent on the TSX following the announcement.

The net loss came to $372 million US, or 71 cents a share, on revenue of $334 million, as the company booked $147 million in charges from its reorganization. Second-quarter revenue fell 31.8 per cent from a year earlier.

A year ago, it reported a profit of $51 million, or 24 cents a share, on revenue of $490 million.


Excluding one-time items, the company said it broke even. On that basis, analysts had on average expected an adjusted loss of five cents a share on revenue of $393.75 million, according to Thomson Reuters.

But beyond the numbers, the real news was the company announcing plans to stop building its own hardware devices, and instead focus on making the software that goes into them.

"The company plans to end all internal hardware development and will outsource that function to partners," BlackBerry said.

That means the company plans to work with other technology manufacturers to build devices that are branded as BlackBerrys and come with all the company's software and internal workings.

The company announced its first such partnership in a separate release Wednesday, working with one of Indonesia's largest telecom companies on a joint venture to make smartphones for that market.

"BlackBerry is no longer just about the smartphone, but the smart in the phone," chief executive John Chen added.

It's an extension of an existing strategy at the company, which already works with partners to make a couple of phones. But by next February, the end of the company's fiscal year, BlackBerry will have completely exited the hardware business.

The company raised its forcast for the year, saying it now expects to lose between 5 cents per share, or maybe break even. That compares with an earlier forecast of a 15 cent loss, after refinancing its debt and as margins improved.

[SumAznGuy]

They will not be making their own phones but instead will outsource it to their partners and will install their software into them to compete against IOS and Android, if I am reading the article correctly.
And if that doesn't increase revenue, then bye bye company.

[tiger_handheld]

blackberry fucked up when it decided to market their phones to teenagers and not corporations.
should've been niche and made a killing promoting corporate security - i mean shit, if it was good for POTUS, why isn't it good for your CEO?
they also should've opened up BBM to android and ios waaay earlier. But the CEO's were too busy trying to stick it to NHL they forgot about their money maker...

[SumAznGuy]

^^^

That and they were too slow to adapt to the changing market.

They were ripping companies off with a dumbed down version of their phones with no cameras or mp3 player. People who had a choice, went with a smart phone instead of a phone with only a QWERTY keyboard.

[StylinRed]

blackberry was still making phones?

[knight604]

First off, Blackberry hasn't produced it's own hardware in YEARS. The Blackberry Passport was the last device to be made by Blackberry's own assembly team. The Classic was produced by Foxconn. The Priv was also produced by Foxconn. Alcatel/TCL made the DTEK50 + soon to be DTEK60.

AMA Blackberry.

[6o4__boi]

Confusing thread title is confusing.

How is it farewell to Blackberry when they're not folding, but are instead outsourcing their phone assembly? (which has apparently been the case for a while now)

Article itself says they'll still continue to build devices branded as Blackberry...so...it's not a farewell.

[knight604]

Because half of the people on the internet love to read titles and not the story.

[bcrdukes]

RIP BB OS10

[Nlkko]

Should have done this 7-8 years ago. Their phone design is nothing to be excited about. For one, they keep sticking with the physical keyboard which was OK when Apple and Samsung first started because their touch keyboards were shit. The Bold 9800 was pretty great then. These 2 improved their touch keyboards and nobody ever look back at the physical keyboard.

Blackbery devices were buggy as fuck. I remember buying a Playbook. What a fucking piece of shit it was. Wifi connection was spotty and usability was non-existent. It's like nobody QA the hardware out of the production line. Apple was just way ahead of everyone else in terms of user experience.

I agree they should have focused on their strength, which is corporate security, even managed services. They would still make a ton of money. There is such a thing as BYOD now but I've talked to enough IT managers, it is still a fucking headache.

[Spoon]

In 2007 when Blackberry hit their peak, their market cap was about the same as Apple. Now they're at 4 Billion and Apple's over 600 Billion.

[BBMme]

Im still going to buy the dtek60 when it comes out. I do like the note 7 but they need to get their stuff sorted out, plus I love the monthly security updates BlackBerry provides to their phones.

[ZN6]

Playbook was a POS. The device was nice, on the outside and hardware was good, but software was absolute shit.

[twitchyzero]

don't care if it's a Canadian company...can't wait until they fade to black given the security breach revealed earlier this year

[parm104]

The last two Blackberries I've owned were the Blackberry Classic and the Blackberry PRIV. Both exceptional devices for what they were.

The classic wasn't terribly expensive and had a decent camera and AMAZING shape, design and feel. The build was supreme. Sound quality was also phenomenal. It worked perfectly for all my essentials; calling, texting, and Whatsapp.

The only downside was the Blackberry Store, it lacked app support.

The I chose the PRIV over my Note 5. Build quality wasn't the GREATEST but it worked really well for what it is, a Blackberry.

I honestly don't think there is room for any other brands. I even think Apple carved Samsung's way into the game because they needed A competitor to compare their devices and OS to. How any of these companies (Blackberry, HTC, LG, etc.) survive in this market is beyond my comprehension.

[GLOW]

Originally Posted by ZN6

Playbook was a POS. The device was nice, on the outside and hardware was good, but software was absolute shit.

i still use it though wish you can root it to android.

when i first saw the thread title first thing i thought was....bye felicia...

[knight604]

Originally Posted by twitchyzero

don't care if it's a Canadian company...can't wait until they fade to black given the security breach revealed earlier this year

What security breach?

If you mean the RCMP having access to the decryption key, it does not apply to devices after BBOS7 and only BBM was compromised if you were targeted. The messages on BBM are scrambled and was never advertised as secure. If you want true security, you would be BES.

[BBMme]

I agree the PlayBook was garbage compared to the competition and I bought the 32gb, 64gb and let version ......

[ae101]

I have bad luck with modern smart phones, blackberry being the worst

Everyone said there berries were in tough, but my curve was crap period

Smash that thing to pieces