The smartphone pioneer BlackBerry will stop making its
Classic model, the company said on Tuesday, some 18 months after launching the
device it had hoped would entice users who prefer a physical, rather than
touchscreen, keyboard.
Blackberry’s move is the latest shift away from its
money-losing handset business and toward its software. Shares in the Canadian
technology company fell more than 3% after an executive confirmed the move in a
company blog post.
“The news is another
negative for this handset business,” said Morningstar analyst Brian Colello.
“It seems more and more likely that the company is going down the path of
exiting handsets.”
Colello said BlackBerry needs a hit mid-range, Android-based
device. Without that, he said, the segment will likely be shut down. He said he
would not expect it to be sold to another company.
The Classic was launched early last year, with a physical
keyboard in the vein of its Bold predecessor and powered by the company’s own
overhauled BlackBerry 10 operating system, which has failed to regain market
share ceded to Apple’s iPhone and others.
BlackBerry has since launched a phone powered by Alphabet’s
dominant Android software and plans several more. BlackBerry chief executive
John Chen last month expressed confidence the company’s trimmed-down handset
business can turn a profit by a self-imposed September deadline.
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