It was the end of an era for the BlackBerry 10 Operating System, which now ceases to exist starting today – January 4, 2022. BlackBerry BB10 powered smartphones—with the legacy QWERTY keyboard favoured by professionals, businesses, and world leaders—haven’t been produced since 2017.
BlackBerry delayed decommissioning the service out of loyalty to its customers, according to CEO, John Chen, who successfully transitioned the firm to a software company in 2016. However, BlackBerry Android devices were not affected by the BB OS end of life.
The BlackBerry phone was introduced in 1999, by the Canadian technology parent company originally called Research in Motion. The phone was a hit, with the business world thanks to email on the go and instant messaging.
Celebrities played a role in the brand’s popularity. In 2008, Kim Kardashian flaunted an 8330 Pink Curve and President Barack Obama had to fight hard to be able to continue to use his BlackBerry when elected that same year. BlackBerry Messenger was even featured in the lyrics and titles of songs by the likes of Sean Kingston. The BBM encrypted program ceased in 2019.
BlackBerry phone sales peaked at 50 million in 2011. But it had already peaked as having the largest slice of pie in the smartphone segment, which was serving a different experience to a new demographic.
When RIM released its first touch screen—Storm—in 2008, it was certain their product would prevail. The company wasn’t convinced its new competitors were not a threat. By 2011, the iPhone had eclipsed BlackBerry. But the company was tenacious and would not give up easily.
Designed to save the one-time industry front-runner, the BB10 OS was two years late in its rollout. During the delay the company’s market share had taken a dive from 20 per cent to just five per cent of a mobile phone niche catering to business. The company’s stock plummeted.
Two new phones were designed to work with the OS, which
finally arrived in January 2013. To coincide with the late
launch, RIM changed its name to BlackBerry
Limited. The
rebranded company had high hopes for its latest touch screen model, without an
external keyboard, the Z10. The Q10, which featured a full functioning QWERTY
setup, was released a few months later. But the phones felt dated upon
arrival and struggled to compete in the saturated market of touch screens dominated
by Apple.
Wall Street Journal columnist Walter Mossberg was quoted as saying, ““The Z10
and BB10 represent a radical reinvention of the BlackBerry,” writes
Mossberg. “The hardware is decent and the user interface is logical and
generally easy to use. I believe it has a chance of getting RIM back into the
game, if the company can attract a lot more apps.”
When BlackBerry’s then CEO, Thorsten Heins, launched BB10, he laid claim to the Z10s target audience. “The device is for people with a hyperconnected social group, who like to get things done, who like balance in their work and social life, who like the simplicity of having everything in one place, who want to move from app to app without having to hit the home button the whole time.” Even though the Z10 promised an extraordinary battery life with 10 hours of talk time, smartphone users had moved on. Developers were designing apps for the competitors instead, which was what consumers wanted.
Myntex CEO, Geoff Green says, “I think it’s great to see a company like BlackBerry show initiative and create one of the first mainstream encrypted communication platforms for customers. If we think back a decade ago, neither Apple nor Android had anything similar.” The public is still being educated about the advantages of encryption and the risks of using free apps. But the business world embraced the benefits of privacy and security when they made BlackBerry a sensation, with stock prices rising to $145 a share..
When Myntex was a start-up business, BlackBerry PGP encryption was an attractive prospect thanks to its security and authentication, providing users with peace of mind their email was private. Myntex began by providing custom encrypted solutions for BlackBerry phones. Although, Myntex did not adopt the BB10 OS to use with the company’s flagship product, ChatMail; various models of hardware from the BlackBerry collection have been used. BlackBerry relinquished fabrication of its hardware in 2019 when it also stopped adding BB10 to its phones.
Myntex has also used Blackberry Unified Endpoint Management as a trusted security model. BlackBerry UEM continues to be an industry-leading interface for business, regardless of the platform they choose to use, and will continue to serve business—which is what the company does best—providing protection for years to come.