[CrackBerry News]

Taking to Twitter to make the announcement, TCL today announced they will no longer be offering any new BlackBerry-branded mobile devices.

Full story from the Crackberry Blog...

[X-Sym]

Can we expect another company who can take over or BlackBerry will abandon his loyal clientele of phone buyer's?

[conite]

Can we expect another company who can take over or BlackBerry will abandon his loyal clientele of phone buyer's?

Doubt it.

What loyal clientele? They haven't sold a device in over 3 years, and sales of licenced handsets were terrible.

[the_boon]

and sales of licenced handsets were terrible.

So much for "10% YoY growth" that they claimed to have in early 2019

[conite]

So much for "10% YoY growth" that they claimed to have in early 2019

Stats are funny things. It's probably actually true since 2017 only included 7 months of sales. So I guess all of 2018 was only 10% higher than 2017.

[Chuck Finley69]

Can we expect another company who can take over or BlackBerry will abandon his loyal clientele of phone buyer's?

I believe the problem was lack of the loyal clientele and that’s how that we’ve ended up here.

The clientele abandoned the original BlackBerry sometime around 2013 when BB10 was rejected by the mass consumers that hadn’t already chosen Android/iOS for whatever reasons.

[the_boon]

Stats are funny things. It's probably actually true since 2017 only included 7 months of sales. So I guess all of 2018 was only 10% higher than 2017.

Then what you just said conflicts with what Troy Tiscareno was saying, that BBMo sold more KEYone's (660k) than KEY2's and LE's combined (335k)

Not sure where the hell he pulled those numbers from, but you didn't disagree with them

[conite]

Then what you just said conflicts with what Troy Tiscareno was saying, that BBMo sold more KEYone's (660k) than KEY2's and LE's combined (335k)

Not sure where the hell he pulled those numbers from, but you didn't disagree with them

Those numbers came from an alleged conversation with a high-up manager from TCL. I would take the breakdown with a grain of salt.

I think the numbers were closer to 1.5 million overall - so, using TCL's official 10% YoY figure, I would guess 600,000 for 2017, 660,000 for 2018, and the balance (~200,000) in 2019.

[the_boon]

Those numbers came from an alleged conversation with a high-up manager from TCL. I would take the breakdown with a grain of salt.

I think the numbers were closer to 1.5 million overall - so, using TCL's official 10% YoY figure, I would guess 600,000 for 2017, 660,000 for 2018, and the balance (~200,000) in 2019.

Maybe those numbers aren't sufficient with the BB tax and all, but man would a player like UniHertz be happy to have even a fraction on that.

Hopefully someone catches those PKB fans before they fall in the hands of slab makers.

[conite]

Maybe those numbers aren't sufficient with the BB tax and all, but man would a player like UniHertz be happy to have even a fraction on that.

Hopefully someone catches those PKB fans before they fall in the hands of slab makers.

Those numbers aren't sufficient for any reputable OEM. You simply can't properly support/develop/maintain a product without 10s of millions of unit sales.

[pgg101]

There is a sense of relief when you finally take that old dog outback and put him out of his misery. I'll miss my keyboard but I wont miss their broken promises.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Those numbers came from an alleged conversation with a high-up manager from TCL. I would take the breakdown with a grain of salt.

I think the numbers were closer to 1.5 million overall - so, using TCL's official 10% YoY figure, I would guess 600,000 for 2017, 660,000 for 2018, and the balance (~200,000) in 2019.

Most the rest that conversation has panned out...

But either way it wasn't enough for BlackBerry or TCL.... they needed Enterpirse, and they didn't get it. The PKB market was too small...

[conite]

Most the rest that conversation has panned out...

But either way it wasn't enough for BlackBerry or TCL.... they needed Enterpirse, and they didn't get it. The PKB market was too small...

Ya, but I could have written the "rest of that conversation" myself. The only thing unique about that specific leak was the sales breakdown - and I was never comfortable with those figures, and they never received any corroboration.

But you're right, in the end whether it be a million or a million and a half, it's not even in the right ballpark.

[the_boon]

Those numbers aren't sufficient for any reputable OEM. You simply can't properly support/develop/maintain a product without 10s of millions of unit sales.

Says who?

There are plenty of OEMs doing low volume phones

[conite]

Says who?

There are plenty of OEMs doing low volume phones

Such as?

[the_boon]

Such as?

Anyone that doesn't pop to your head in a few seconds.

Small, unknown type of OEM's.

[danfrancisco]

Curious to see what, if any, effect this will have on prices for the remaining inventory thats scattered out there. I wouldn't mind picking up the black KEY2 to complete my set!

[conite]

Curious to see what, if any, effect this will have on prices for the remaining inventory thats scattered out there. I wouldn't mind picking up the black KEY2 to complete my set!

I don't think they would have made this announcement unless they were getting down near the bottom of the barrel.

If anything, this might bolster sales for a bit. "Last chance" , and "last device ever", " don't bother waiting for a KEY³", crowd. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[crackberry_geek]

I believe the problem was lack of the loyal clientele and that’s how that we’ve ended up here.

The clientele abandoned the original BlackBerry sometime around 2013 when BB10 was rejected by the mass consumers that hadn’t already chosen Android/iOS for whatever reasons.

BB10 was never rejected by the masses. The masses never knew about it because johnny didn't want them to.

[Paulelmar18]

It is a pity that the era of BlackBerry smartphones is over. But it was to be expected. And unfortunately, everything has turned out as I had already written in June last year. But I am just a random blogger.

I just would have liked to get my hands on the KEY3 again. The KEY3 was already developed and had an interesting keyboard concept.

It looked very good and had very interesting specifications.

[conite]

BB10 was never rejected by the masses. The masses never knew about it because johnny didn't want them to.

Chen wasn't even employed by BlackBerry when BB10 self-destructed on launch, caused $billions in losses, drove the company to be put up for sale, begged Prem to throw a lifeline, and forced him and the board to ditch devices and hire a software guy as CEO to execute the pivot plan.

[the_boon]

But I am just a random blogger.

I just would have liked to get my hands on the KEY3 again. The KEY3 was already developed and had an interesting keyboard concept.

If TCL has sunk enough money into the R&D of this keyboard concept, then they could turn around and use it for a Palm branded phone.

Should be a hell of a lot more interesting than the useless Plex slabs.

[Paulelmar18]

This will not be possible because the concept was tailored to the BlackBerry keyboard.

[joeldf]

BB10 was never rejected by the masses. The masses never knew about it because johnny didn't want them to.

I think you meant to say "Thor". There was no "johnny" in 2012/early 2013.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Such as?

LG, Sony, Asus, TCL even Lenovo/Moto.... but not really by choice.