[Jeroenbelg]

"TCL today announced they will no longer be offering any new BlackBerry-branded mobile devices as they have no further rights to design, manufacture or sell them. They will, however, still be offering customer service and warranty service for existing devices until August 31, 2022, or later where applicable."

What is the future of Blackberry according to you guys, after this announcement?

[Christiane Gebert]

Hopefully another deal will be done and they will continue.

[howarmat]

Blackberry Limiteds focus is unchanged. The brand and the company hasnt been in the phone business for many years. Its possible that another vender will come and license the brand name for phones but the chances are slim

[chain13]

They will provide software security and MDM solution for enterprise, that's what they've been doing for past years.

[Chuck Finley69]

The future of BlackBerry Limited remains unchanged as when BlackBerry Limited exited the phone business three years ago. I suspect BlackBerry Limited may even get paid some early termination penalties like Emtek paid when BBM shuttered last year.

TCL will continue it’s own branding pursuit as it winds down Alcatel licensing as well. It’s becoming very prominent with some carriers already. Second phase of dual branding has started with switchover.

TCL expected Alcatel effect with Palm and BlackBerry and didn’t get the desired results.

[PantherBlitz]

I'd guess that investors would love if BBRY could gain the attention of a larger corporation so they could cash out. They pretty much are just also-rans in many areas. Their only real leader is the QNX automotive division. Its stable, but not that profitable and prospects for growth are small when they already have much of the market.

So to answer the OP question, BlackBerry as a corporation is in no danger of going away anytime soon. They currently touch mobile devices through their subscription services which will continue as long as they are profitable. Time will tell if that will include the Android Hub+ suite.

[the_boon]

The future of BlackBerry Limited remains unchanged as when BlackBerry Limited exited the phone business three years ago. I suspect BlackBerry Limited may even get paid some early termination penalties like Emtek paid when BBM shuttered last year.

TCL will continue it’s own branding pursuit as it winds down Alcatel licensing as well. It’s becoming very prominent with some carriers already. Second phase of dual branding has started with switchover.

TCL expected Alcatel effect with Palm and BlackBerry and didn’t get the desired results.

TCL didn't try a damn thing with Palm.

That tiny piece of glass they released in late 2018 was a PINO (Palm-in-name-only), and it doesn't count as an attempt.

They should just use whatever time/money/R&D they had spent on the Monet BBJ100 on a real Palm revival phone.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

TCL didn't try a damn thing with Palm.

That tiny piece of glass they released in late 2018 was a PINO (Palm-in-name-only), and it doesn't count as an attempt.

They should just use whatever time/money/R&D they had spent on the Monet BBJ100 on a real Palm revival phone.

The PKB in all the KEY devices is clearly BlackBerry's IP.

Don't know that the Monet was a BBMo product, or that it got as far as a physical design, or that it had a PKB - next phone from BBMo was suppose to be that delayed slab.

I do think that if TCL had interest in chasing the PKB market, that they could come up with something pretty easily. And too be honest I find it hard to believe that the PLEX has sold all that many units. A 2021 Palm retro phone might sell well....

If it has Android One and not TCL custom Android that almost never get's updated.
If it doesn't have the standard TCL spyware installed
If they actually come up with a "perfect" pkb experience
And if it's sold where it can be bought....

[Chuck Finley69]

TCL didn't try a damn thing with Palm.

That tiny piece of glass they released in late 2018 was a PINO (Palm-in-name-only), and it doesn't count as an attempt.

They should just use whatever time/money/R&D they had spent on the Monet BBJ100 on a real Palm revival phone.

TCL has learned that money spent will be spent best on it’s TCL brand VKB lineup. I hear they’re going to claim “boon certified” as it’s better than Unihertz brand VKB models. No PKBs are planned but they’ll still going to exploit the_boon anti-Unihertz comments.

[Dean Laxer]

i love the unbroken optimism of the die hard BB10 fans, who can't admit the battle has been lost for good...

should BlackBerry start building their own devices again?

well... i would hope so, but i doubt it will happen. They barely made a crack in the market with their BB10 experiment. too little too late. there is nothing more powerful and dominant then iOS and android on the market. if BlackBerry would develop another run in their own OS department to create BB15 or what ever, who the hell would even support it? all the apps that are needed nowadays? the demand is huge!

i think TCL did a fine job creating these devices. i would hope someone else comes along to obtain a license.
anything else will result in nothing but loss of money...

[the_boon]

TCL has learned that money spent will be spent best on it’s TCL brand VKB lineup. I hear they’re going to claim “boon certified” as it’s better than Unihertz brand VKB models. No PKBs are planned but they’ll still going to exploit the_boon anti-Unihertz comments.

I'm much more pro-Unihertz (at least the Titan, couldn't care less about their tiny useless slabs).

I do not care one single damn bit about TCL's Plex phones. They're probably failing as we speak.

The VKB market is saturated, no one needs these.

[RLeeSimon]

I'm much more pro-Unihertz (at least the Titan, couldn't care less about their tiny useless slabs).

I do not care one single damn bit about TCL's Plex phones. They're probably failing as we speak.

The VKB market is saturated, no one needs these.

I also hear the Sammy clip-on is a failure...

[howarmat]

nah the plex will sell in the lower end. Remember TCL is a fairly known brand with the TVs and such

[the_boon]

I also hear the Sammy clip-on is a failure...

Well yeah unfortunately, they stopped it very shortly after the Note 8.

It's also quite a shame because the one for the S8/+/N8 looked a lot better than the awful looking ones for the S6 and S7 series.

So who knows how improved they could have been if they didn't totally give up on them.

Now that BBMo is history, maybe a PKB clip-on would sell better.

Some still want to type on plastic without having to carry around a UniHertz Titan...

[Chuck Finley69]

I'm much more pro-Unihertz (at least the Titan, couldn't care less about their tiny useless slabs).

I do not care one single damn bit about TCL's Plex phones. They're probably failing as we speak.

The VKB market is saturated, no one needs these.

TCL is the real OEM that even attempted PKB and owns the Palm name. Hope they succeed with the VKB as they’re only real chance of any serious OEM making PKB hardware ever again.

TCL has the most recent and relevant PKB knowledge and data. The other various OEMs won’t consider a PKB if TCL won’t consider a PKB under their remaining brands.

[RLeeSimon]

TCL is the real OEM that even attempted PKB and owns the Palm name. Hope they succeed with the VKB as they’re only real chance of any serious OEM making PKB hardware ever again.

TCL has the most recent and relevant PKB knowledge and data. The other various OEMs won’t consider a PKB if TCL won’t consider a PKB under their remaining brands.

I thought Palm ＆ WebOS went to LG because their lives kitchen appliances and TV have WebOS innerds... no ?

[Chuck Finley69]

I thought Palm ＆ WebOS went to LG because their lives kitchen appliances and TV have WebOS innerds... no ?

Nothing regarding the OS themselves. Around 2014 or so, TCL purchased the Palm name only from the previous IP owner.

[the_boon]

TCL is the real OEM that even attempted PKB and owns the Palm name. Hope they succeed with the VKB as they’re only real chance of any serious OEM making PKB hardware ever again.

TCL has the most recent and relevant PKB knowledge and data. The other various OEMs won’t consider a PKB if TCL won’t consider a PKB under their remaining brands.

This is completely made up lol

The fate of the PKB does not rest solely in the hands of TCL.

That said, they would be well positioned to give it another shot with another brand name (such as Palm) since they have accumulated some experience building PKB's with the BBMo experiment.

[bakron1]

From what I have read the past couple of days, I am guessing it’s pretty much up in the air wether there will be another new Blackberry product on the horizon?

At this point in time and with the smartphone industry being stagnant and saturated, who knows what the future holds.

Myself, I am optimist and hope there will be a new Blackberry product in the distant future, time will tell.

[conite]

That said, they would be well positioned to give it another shot with another brand name (such as Palm) since they have accumulated some experience building PKB's with the BBMo experiment.

But BlackBerry owns ALL of that IP. TCL couldn't make a typewriter on their own now.

[Chuck Finley69]

This is completely made up lol

The fate of the PKB does not rest solely in the hands of TCL.

That said, they would be well positioned to give it another shot with another brand name (such as Palm) since they have accumulated some experience building PKB's with the BBMo experiment.

Everything I stated is very simple fact. Apple, Google and Microsoft all have the economic and technical resources to make PKB hardware with or without BlackBerry and choose not to. Samsung, LG, and HTC all have made PKB hardware in the past as well. It’s been years since any of them did it though. Meanwhile, Lenovo, HMD and TCL are looking to use old brands of Motorola, Nokia, Palm and BlackBerry to jumpstart their own unknown brands.

One reasons for BlackBerry and the PKB attempt was product differentiation and the BBTax made that noncompetitive. TCL, if the demand is there could sell their own PKB under the Palm brand or even TCL brand for the same reasons cheaper. If TCL doesn’t choose to do so with having by far the best demand sales data, with all the sales and expense margin data, what does that say to any other player in the space?

[the_boon]

But BlackBerry owns ALL of that IP. TCL couldn't make a typewriter on their own now.

That's just ridiculous.

TCL can make a PKB, but without the IP it won't be as good as the KEY devices.

[conite]

That's just ridiculous.

TCL can make a PKB, but without the IP it won't be as good as the KEY devices.

They are in a particularly perilous position having made BlackBerry keyboards. They wouldn't be able to use anything even remotely related - in any layer of the mechanism, or in any code.

[RLeeSimon]

But BlackBerry owns ALL of that IP. TCL couldn't make a typewriter on their own now.

So did TCL proffer that "palm" side phone loser ?

So they got PALM but the IP (webOS, Luna, etc) went to LG ??

[RLeeSimon]

Everything I stated is very simple fact. Apple, Google and Microsoft all have the economic and technical resources to make PKB hardware with or without BlackBerry and choose not to. Samsung, LG, and HTC all have made PKB hardware in the past as well. It’s been years since any of them did it though. Meanwhile, Lenovo, HMD and TCL are looking to use old brands of Motorola, Nokia, Palm and BlackBerry to jumpstart their own unknown brands.

One reasons for BlackBerry and the PKB attempt was product differentiation and the BBTax made that noncompetitive. TCL, if the demand is there could sell their own PKB under the Palm brand or even TCL brand for the same reasons cheaper. If TCL doesn’t choose to do so with having by far the best demand sales data, with all the sales and expense margin data, what does that say to any other player in the space?

I guess it says "who the he'll would touch or deal with BlackBerry??" I spoze...