Mergify: Reviews

Is Facebook killing your iPhone's battery?

October 23, 2015Apuroop

BlackBerry to exit mobile phones market?

October 10, 2015Apuroop

Rumours were heard of BlackBerry exiting the handset market. On Thursday, at the Code Mobile Conference in California, Chen finally put a timeline to the rumours and said that if the handset business does not generate enough money, the company will take the call of exiting it in a year's time. Last year, BlackBerry CEO John Chen was quoted saying, "If I cannot make money on handsets, I will not be in the handset business."

It is a fact that the popularity of the Android and iOS ecosystems have literally collapsed company's hopes of turning things around in the mobile phone marketing. The earnings report had revealed a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss, and said it expects 'modest' growth for the next two quarters, with a return to profitability by the fourth quarter of the financial year. BlackBerry also seems to have realised this fact and are looking to focus more on their security and device management as of blackphone 2.

In a move to improve its security portfolio, Chen also announced that the company will be launching 2 new versions of BB10 with added protection and security features for its clients in the government. He also presented the all new BlackBerry Priv smartphone that's slated for a year-end release in major markets. The phone is expected to house a 5.4 inch Quad HD display and is expected to run on a Hexa-core Snapdragon 808 SoC.

That said, Chen also plans to merge the BB10 OS with Android in the coming future, combining BlackBerry's strength in security and Android's ease of use a userfriendly. This might change things around for its smartphone business but BlackBerry still has a lot of lost time to make up for.

If the handset business does not turn profitable soon, the company has plans of using existing mobile technology to expand its IoT business. Internet of things is the buzz word in the tech industry these days and earlier this year, BlackBerry launched its cloud IoT platform which combined with its QNX system, shows real potential.

The company also revealed updates for its device roadmap for the year which primarily included Priv Android smartphone. Notably, BlackBerry is pitching its first Android smartphone as a flagship slider device.