I have heard the rumor that BlackBerry will no longer be supported. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?
BlackBerry doesn't support the KEY2, it's a TCL device and they are finished... or probable after this last NA patch.
If you can get that patch (Sept), odds are your good till end of 2020. Beyond that just depends on your willingness to take a risk without those monthly patches. If your stilling rocking a Windows XP machine... you'll be in the same boat.
Onward is planning to licensing the brand and put out a new phone next year. Won't affect your KEY2 in the way of OS updates or patches - it's a different company. But maybe you'll get some app updates if that's part of the deal, but right now we don't known.
How is it just talk? They have an agreement with blackberry. The phone is being released.
The agreement, as far as anyone can tell, is an agreed upon future payment amount for the use of the logo. This doesn't exactly bind them to the entire project.
Have they applied for any certifications yet? Security? FCC?
What kind of lead times for such certifications are usually expected for mobile devices?
We usually would see signs of a device about eight months out, but BlackBerry and even TCL's development was rather slow. First signs are usually a leaker like Evan Bass outing it. Then signs of benchmarks on some of the popular sites. But with this scale might not see either of those.
FCC is usually once approved, and that tends to be just a couple months before release. But manufactures can have release of this information delayed it it's necessary. Apple sometimes didn't get FCC approvals till after phones were on preorder.
Security - indications that those can take years. Look at the back and forth, and years it took BlackBerry to get NIPA. We aren't going to see Security Certifications for Onward products.... that costs millions in testing that BlackBerry and Onward would have to cover. Just no way to recover those cost at these levels - well if they are $3,000 phones and have order for enough.
What do you mean hopefully? They are releasing a phone
As has been previously mention above, we aren't even close to seeing hardware and it wouldn't be the first time a project ends quietly.
Keep hopeful and let's see what information gets released tonight. Be worried if there's nothing specific because, there should be a strategy map of more public information by now.
These devices aren't just going to quietly show up one night in carrier stores. Expect at least as much information as we had with TCL and BBMo and knowing that failed. Expect better communication of information and everything otherwise better handled if project intends to succeed. I'm concerned things aren't progressing on consumer side as portrayed could be harder than expected.
As has been previously mention above, we aren't even close to seeing hardware and it wouldn't be the first time a project ends quietly.
Keep hopeful and let's see what information gets released tonight. Be worried if there's nothing specific because, there should be a strategy map of more public information by now.
These devices aren't just going to quietly show up one night in carrier stores. Expect at least as much information as we had with TCL and BBMo and knowing that failed. Expect better communication of information and everything otherwise better handled if project intends to succeed. I'm concerned things aren't progressing on consumer side as portrayed could be harder than expected.
I suspect the carrier and enterprise side is a lot harder than expected.