BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) is reported to have informed AT&T and Verizon of its plans to discontinue the production of all BB 10 devices. The news comes at a time when it was reported that U.S. Senate staffers will not be offered BlackBerry devices once existing supplies have been exhausted. However, the Canadian firm said in an email sent to CrackBerry that it will, in fact, not stop production of all BB10 devices.
BlackBerry discontinuing only the Classic
BlackBerry will continue to “actively support sales” of its BB OS 10 devices in most markets, according to the statement. The statement further reads that the company will continue to support its in-house platform. However, the Waterloo-based company did inform U.S. carriers that it has ceased manufacturing for the BlackBerry Classic. Interestingly, the Canadian smartphone maker suggests that moving forward, procurement of the Classic might be a bit tricky.
“As part of this, and after many successful years in the market, we have informed our U.S. carriers that the manufacturing cycle of only our BlackBerry Classic will cease. However, we have informed our customers to check with their respective carrier for device availability or purchase Classic unlocked online. We continue to actively support sales of our BlackBerry 10 smartphones to customers in most markets,” the statement reads.
Since early BB 10 devices did not have a keyboard, the company alienated longtime users. The Classic was an attempt to retain those die-hard users, but the attempt was not very successful. The processor powering the Classic is quite old, and the inclusion of a trackpad brought many questions from people, given the touchscreen. The Classic did have great battery life and an excellent keyboard, but that was not enough.
Another major setback
According to Jim Swift of the Weekly Standard, senators and their staff will no longer be issued BlackBerry smartphones. In a blog post, Jim noted that staffers within the U.S. Senate received a notice that the Classic, Z30 and the Passport are being discontinued.
This is the latest setback for the Canadian firm, which saw poor financials for its first fiscal 2016 quarter. The Waterloo-based company lost around $670 million, and its device business is not doing well, losing money continuously. However, CEO John Chen has not lost faith and still hopes for a profit in the device space.
BlackBerry is expected to release two new phones soon. One is expected to be an all-touchscreen phone, while the other phone is expected to feature a Priv-like keyboard, according to rumors.
