Farewell, old friend: The legacy that is BlackBerry

Before the era of the iPhone and Samsung, there was BlackBerry. It was everywhere. From the people in commute to the TV shows everyone watched. That wide, black phone with the large QWERTY keypad will always be imbued in everyone’s memory.

It was the “it” phone then and will forever be remembered as such.

Older versions saying goodbye

BlackBerry officially pulled the plug with some of its older models last January 4, 2022.

Last December 2021, BlackBerry first announced that its legacy services for its earlier versions will no longer be available. These devices will lack the ability to receive over-the-air provisioning updates. As such, this functionality will no longer function, including for data, phone calls, SMS, and 911 functionality.

The EOL of infrastructure services will not impactBlackBerry Android devices unless they are receiving redirected emails sent to a BlackBerry hosted email address or assigned an Enhanced Sim Based License (ESBL) or Identity Based License (IBL).

The impact of BlackBerry phones

The early 2000s were all about Blackberry (and Nokia). Halfway through the decade, the brand released versions like Curve Bold, which became widely popular especially in the corporate world.

It also catered to the younger generations then. Apart from its staple image of having the QWERTY keypad – which enables easier texting – it also garnered attention by having applications like Blackberry Messenger (BBM). It was one of the most used communication platforms at that time, adults and youngsters alike.

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End of an era

After the phone brand failed to meet public expectations and cannot compete with the full-touch display phones of today, they stopped making devices based on their own operating system. It started launching smartphones based on Android OS.

BlackBerry Key2’s the last Blackberry phone launched in the market. There has been no smartphone release since then.

And with Blackberry officially pulling the plug of its software support and legacy services on its devices, the company has ended its operations in the smartphone segment for good.