Iconic BlackBerry phones will stop working forever from tomorrow

By Ciaran Daly - The Daily Star


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Tomorrow marks the end of an era, as BlackBerry phones will officially stop working permanently from January 4th.

The phone company, which once dominated the mobile market with its gadgets, says it has transitioned to being a software company and no longer wants to support BlackBerry devices.

Fans of the legendary smartphone took to Twitter to reminisce about the BlackBerry and mourn its loss.

"BlackBerry phones stop working this week. :( I'm emailing, calling, and texting everyone I've ever met like a madman on mine til then. Just riding that physical keyboard like the magnificent workhorse it is," wrote one BlackBerry fan.

"It shows nothing last forever, don't feel too important in life, because some day you will be irrelevant too..." said another Twitter user.

In a statement, the company said that WiFi, phone calls, data, texts and even emergency calls will cease to work on BlackBerry phones.

"In 2017, we committed to providing at least two more years of support for BlackBerry 10 and at least two years of BlackBerry network access for BBOS devices," they wrote.

"On January 4, 2022, devices running on these service offerings through either carrier or Wi-Fi connections will no longer reliably function, including for data, phone calls, SMS and 9-1-1 functionality."

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The changes will not affect BlackBerry Android devices unless they rely on a BlackBerry email address. If you are a BlackBerry user and have files and photos to backup, you will have to go through BlackBerry's support website and find your device.

Prior to the iPhone, the BlackBerry was widely considered a status symbol thanks to its full-size mini keyboard and support for BBM (BlackBerry Messenger), which was like an early version of WhatsApp but only for BlackBerry users.

As recently as 2011, BlackBerry was shipping 50 million phones and had more than 80 million users worldwide at its peak. By 2017, it had less than 11 million users as the likes of iPhone and Android took over.

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I would've cared 10 years ago :lol: Man I loved my first couple Blackberry's. You could type so fast and hardly make a typo without even looking down at the thing. I would've supported them as a Canadian company if they didn't fall so far behind on app support and bigger screens. Their biggest mistake IMO was not just going to Android OS right away, but they also failed brutally to modernize their hardware. They sometimes went more than a year without a new product IIRC.

I think their former CEO once said he knew they were fucked when he walked into a meeting with a bunch of executives and they all had work Blackberrys and second personal devices. Once Enterprises got over their 'security' concerns with non-Blackberry devices, they were done with the one market they owned.