The once-respected BlackBerry brand has been licensed yet again by a company hoping to use a familiar name to make a dent in the competitive Android phone market. This time, it’s a new Texas startup named OnwardMobility that’s taking the reins, promising to release a 5G BlackBerry device with Android and a physical QWERTY keyboard in 2021.
Little else is known about the device, including screen size or internal specs, but OnwardMobility told The Register it would come with a completely new keyboard design that will “reflect the brand values from a keyboard typing experience and input experience.” Which, yeah, sure! I love to reflect brand values. Do it all the time.
It seems OnwardMobility will be angling the device to enterprise customers, emphasizing the phone’s ability to get work done on the go (surely less of a draw in a pandemic?) and its security features. This all makes sense, considering these were the attributes that attracted so many customers to BlackBerry devices in the past.
