OnwardMobility (OM) has officially announced that the company is shutting down and will no longer be proceeding with the development of an “ultra-secure smartphone with a physical keyboard”.
This comes as absolutely no surprise after it was suspected that the company would no longer proceeding with the project after its license to use the BlackBerry name was cancelled.
Ironically, it was only last month that OM took to their blogs in an effort to convince anyone still interested that neither the company nor an upcoming 5G smartphone was dead.
However, in the company’s’ usual non-communicative way, they simply updated their home page with the following.
We want to thank you all for the tremendous amount of support that you have given us since we first launched OnwardMobility. However, it is with great sadness that we announce that OnwardMobility will be shutting down, and we will no longer be proceeding with the development of an ultra-secure smartphone with a physical keyboard.
Please know that this was not a decision that we made lightly or in haste. We share your disappointment in this news and assure you this is not the outcome we worked and hoped for.
We are incredibly grateful to the team of seasoned professionals who worked tirelessly on this project and to each and every one of our loyal fans and partners who have supported us throughout this journey. It has been a pleasure to work with all of you and hear your comments and feedback.
Thank you for all your support and we wish you all the best!
The OnwardMobility Team
Way back in August 2020, OM promised a 5G BlackBerry smartphone during the “first half of 2021,” and also back in August 2020, we asked if OM would learn from past BlackBerry smartphone failures, and sadly, they didn’t.
However, BlackBerry is looking to further distance itself from its days as a smartphone vendor after selling the remainder of its mobile patent portfolio for $600 million earlier this month.
Sources state that BlackBerry CEO John Chen’s change of heart regarding putting the BlackBerry brand on a smartphone again, along with continued delays related to the supply chain, were major factors in his decision to “pull support for the project.”
It’s not a reach to say that the chances of anyone else producing a BlackBerry smartphone are now practically zero.
