OnwardMobility has taken to their blogs in an effort to convince anyone still interested that neither the company nor an upcoming 5G smartphone is dead.
While most companies experienced difficulties in 2021, what is unforgivable from OnwardMobility is the complete lack of silence on their part. However, the company seems to acknowledge that in a brief blog post:
To all of you who have patiently waited so long for updates from OnwardMobility, we are humbly aware that we owe you some form of communication as we enter 2022. And to misquote Mark Twain, as so many do, “Contrary to popular belief, we are not dead.”
The company explained that it experienced “various delays that prevented us from shipping in 2021,” but that it is still working on an “ultra-secure 5G enterprise smartphone” with a keyboard and that it will begin providing more regular updates this month.
We’ve read all your Facebook and LinkedIn comments, articles, Tweets, email messages and more, and not only do we understand your frustration, but we genuinely share it.
Everyone has eagerly awaited additional information following our last announcement, but 2021 was truly a challenging year to launch a new phone, much less one with the high expectations we set and the fact that we want to get it right!
What is of interest here, is that when discussing the new 5G smartphone, there is no mention of the word BlackBerry, while they state that it will “still” come with a keyboard.
Now whether that is an indicator that this phone will no longer be branded a BlackBerry, that there has been a change somewhere, or it’s just another example of OM’s poor communication is open to conjecture.
While we encountered various delays that prevented us from shipping in 2021, we will be providing more regular updates starting this month that will clarify and answer many of your questions about the ultra-secure 5G enterprise smartphone (still with a keyboard!) we’re bringing to market.
The company didn’t state when the 5G smartphone will be available for purchase, but based on the wording of the statement, it appears that more information on the phone will be released to the media soon.
All of us at OnwardMobility are incredibly grateful for the community of loyal users for this opportunity. To the media: we’ll be ready to deliver news and speak with you soon and we look forward to it.
We sincerely apologize for our silence and truly appreciate your patience. In the meantime, we wish everyone a healthy start to the New Year!
Way back in August 2020, OnwardMobility 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, it appears they haven’t.
Back then, I said:
We’re told to expect the new BlackBerry smartphone in the middle of 2021 and if OM stick to BlackBerry’s old routine, that could mean any time around the end of 2021, and beyond.
So basically while trying to convince us that neither the company nor the phone are dead, their communication seems to have created more questions than answers.
If you’re interested, you can still sign up for a pre-commitment program here.
