Although it is now a distant memory, some of us may still remember the golden age of the BlackBerry, the smartphone with a keyboard that could do it all.
The BlackBerry phone was first and foremost a communication device. It prioritised communications above everything else and no other device could beat that chiclet keyboard when it comes to efficiency.
Then everything changed when the iPhone came into the scene in 2007. Buttons were the thing of the past, touch screens reigned supreme.
BlackBerry was stubborn to change at first but they did try to adapt. They innovated, made touchscreen phones and even adopted Android.
However, in 2016, BlackBerry Executive Chairman and CEO John Chen announced that the company’s transition to a software company was complete.
On 9 Sep, 2020 the company announced that it will be taking steps to decommission legacy BlackBerry services in 2022.
Well, the time is almost upon us.
Recently BlackBerry put out a reminder that “the legacy services for BlackBerry 7.1 OS and earlier, BlackBerry 10 software, BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1 and earlier versions, will no longer be available after 4 Jan, 2022”.
That means after that date the devices that ran on these operating systems will no longer reliably function. They can’t use data, make phone calls, send or receive SMS, or even make emergency calls.
Although a lot of us have moved on, there are some of us who still fondly remember those handy smartphones with the keyboard that can do it all.
