RIP Blackberry Once Again: TCL Will Stop Making Blackberry Phones From August 2020
Blackberry made this announcement yesterday on its Twitter handle, revealing the end of the four-year long partnership between TCL and Blackberry. The post stated, "We do regret to share, however, that as of 31 August 2020, TCL Communication will no longer be selling BlackBerry-branded mobile devices. TCL Communication has no further rights to design, manufacture or sell any new BlackBerry mobile devices."
Just like the older Nokia phones from the early 2000s, we have a special place in our hearts for Blackberry.
For many, it was their first phone with a QWERTY keyboard, also the one to revolutionize the instant messaging experience. It led to a race to be a part of the elite BBM club.
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While Android phones already defeated Blackberry twice, with the BBOS 7 and BB10, their new innings with smartphone maker TCL surely excited many, with Blackberry devices joining the Android bandwagon. And while they didn't really get an overwhelming response like a OnePlus or Samsung device would, they were hanging in there.
Alas, this too has come to an end now, as Blackberry has announced that they are terminating their partnership with the smartphone maker.
Blackberry made this announcement yesterday on its Twitter handle, revealing the end of the four-year long partnership between TCL and Blackberry.
Reuters
The post stated, "We do regret to share, however, that as of 31 August 2020, TCL Communication will no longer be selling BlackBerry-branded mobile devices. TCL Communication has no further rights to design, manufacture or sell any new BlackBerry mobile devices."
In case you were wondering what about the Blackberry you recently bought, TCL will continue to offer warranty and support for the device till August 31, 2022.
Blackberry's time with TCL wasn't the most successful, but in their stint together, they did make a few cool phones with a physical keypad and focus on data privacy -- including Blackberry Priv, Key One, Key 2 and Key One LE.
Blackberry hasn't revealed any manufacturing partnerships yet, which means the smartphone maker could go on another hiatus.
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TCL too is getting aggressive with its approach and designs, revealing some really interesting devices at CES, so maybe it wants all of its resources focussed on their own line-up.
Last year, Blackberry also pulled the Blackberry Messenger app from the Google Play Store, with the messenger only available on its devices, just like it used to be in the past.
We don't know if Blackberry will ever come back, but we'll surely miss them for their innovation, hoping that they'd cast their BBM charm on the world once again.