After a long relationship the U.S. Senate announced today that its time with BlackBerry is coming to an end and it will no longer supply staffers with the product once present supplies are exhausted. It could certainly be argued that Blackberry effectively divorced itself when its CEO announced in January at CES that BlackBerry’s new devices would be running Android if the company indeed made two new devices this year.
Senate confirms that Blackberry’s days are numbered “On The Hill”
Despite the fact that BlackBerry’s CEO, John Chen, has repeatedly said that the company remains interested in getting national security certification of BlackBerry 10 (OS) in order for certain government projects to use them, the U.S. Senate seems done with the company.
While many view the device as a dinosaur, it has been a stalwart on Capital Hill for well over a decade and its security remains as strong as ever. The notice of the Senate’s decision was sent to staffers and their bosses on Wednesday this week.
In the letter from the Senate’s Sergeant at Arms, which was first reported by Jim Swift’s bomble.com, the note read, “Once we have exhausted our current in-house stock, new device procurements will be limited, while supplies last, to warranty exchanges only.”
For those looking to try to get a BlackBerry (fake a warranty need?) before it’s too late, here is the present inventory:
As of June 29, 2016, our BlackBerry device stock levels are:
RIM Classic Verizon BlackBerry – 275
RIM Z30 Verizon Black BlackBerry – 160
RIM Classic AT&T BlackBerry – 45
RIM Passport AT&T BlackBerry – 45
RIM Z10 AT&T Black BlackBerry – 45
RIM Q10 AT&T Black Blackberry – 40
While the Senate is clearly done, BlackBerry’s handset business might be as well. Most consider the Priv the last chance for the company, and poor sales suggest that it will likely be the final coffin nail for BlackBerry when it comes to making its own hardware.
With a $699 price tag that is certain to come down, the Priv hasn’t seen the sales the company is hoping for to keep it in the game.
For years the BlackBerry faithful kept the company afloat but even that did-hard support has waned.
