As of January 4th, any phones or tablets running BlackBerry’s own software — that’s BlackBerry 7.1 or earlier, BlackBerry 10, or its tablet operating system BlackBerry PlayBook — will “no longer reliably function,” says the company.
Whether on Wi-Fi or cellular, there’ll be no guarantee you can make phone calls, send text messages, use data, establish an SMS connection, or even call 9-1-1. That sounds pretty darned dead to us.
If, for whatever inexplicable reason, you or someone you love is still using an original BlackBerry, then we recommend you make it a New Year’s resolution to pry it gently but firmly from their hands. From January 4th onwards, it’ll be little more than a paperweight. (Though BlackBerry devices running Android will continue to work as normal.)
The company has experienced a slow and torturous decline since its dominant era in the late 2000s, when its QWERTY keyboards and reputation for security gave it a 50 percent market share in the US, but such a storied brand has to be wrung for its last dregs of value. (Its parent company, BlackBerry Limited, has pivoted to selling cybersecurity software.)
BlackBerry tried to reboot itself in 2013 with a new OS, BlackBerry 10 (which failed), and in 2015 switched to making Android devices (which failed, too). Then, in 2016, it started licensing its brand to third-party manufacturers like TCL.
TheVerge
