Classic BlackBerry phones will stop working from January 4th

(CNN) – You will not soon be able to use the old BlackBerry phone in the bottom of your drawer.

Tuesday, January 4, Company Will stop supporting For your BlackBerry 10, 7.1 OS and earlier classic devices. All your old devices that do not run Android software can no longer use data, send text messages, access the Internet or make calls, and can no longer use 911.

BlackBerry: Once considered a sophisticated technology

Despite that Most mobile users have abandoned BlackBerry – The latest version of its operating system was released in 2013 – The decision to discontinue support for its phones marks the end of what was once considered sophisticated technology.

Company Advertising BlackBerry Ltd. first released the news in September 2020 as part of an effort to focus on providing security software and services to businesses and governments around the world.

BlackBerry was mostly Outside the telephone business Since 2016, Austin has consistently licensed its brand to phone manufacturers, including OnwardMobility, a Texas-based security startup for the BlackBerry 5G device that runs on TCL and Android software for many years. (BlackBerry Android devices will not be affected at the end of the service.)

Old-school BlackBerry mobile phones with physical keyboards were once very popular in the late 90s and early 2000s, so people called them “CrockBerry”. The keyboard appealed to professionals who wanted the flexibility of working outside the office with some of the tools they used on a desktop computer.

BlackBerry devices have become a status symbol and component of the Wall Street people, celebrities like Kim Kardashian and President Barack Obama. At its peak, in 2012, BlackBerry had more than 80 million active users.

Success story … until the touch screens come

The company began its career in 1996 as bilateral locators known as Research in Motion (RIM). Its first device, the “Interactive Pager”, allowed customers to respond to pages with a physical keyboard. Three years later, RIM introduced the BlackBerry name with the BlackBerry 850.

Over time, BlackBerry phones gained support for email, apps, web browsing, and BPM, an encrypted SMS platform prior to WhatsApp, and BlackBerry continued to outperform its competitors.

But Apple’s touch screen revolution with the iPhone in 2007 reduced BlackBerry’s offer. He tried touchscreens and slide-out keyboard models, but with little success. It made some phones without the physics keyboard, but these have no major BlackBerry difference: its touch keyboard.

BlackBerry dropped its own software, adopted Android and overwritten its security software. It has had some success in corporate and auto security software.

Although TCL has stopped making devices under the BlackBerry name by 2020, some fans are looking forward to the arrival of OnwardMobility’s BlackBerry 5G device, which was originally scheduled to launch in 2021. Despite the delay, a banner reading “on its website” will continue to appear.Coming 2021“.

Dave Goldman of CNN Business contributed to this report.