The world has long been waiting for the BlackBerry brand to make a return in the mobile industry. After so many smartphone manufacturers tried and failed to modernize the classic QWERTY mobile phone, it looks like the brand could soon be hitting the market.
Originally, the BlackBerry brand was owned by a company called Research in Motion (RIM). This was the time when BlackBerry phones were all the rave and even beat its competitors like Apple and Samsung. But once RIM lost its footing in the race, it also lost its rights to the brand. Shortly after, TCL tried to revive the BlackBerry brand but did not get any luck. They finally let go of their rights to the brand, which led it to the hands of its current owner, OnwardMobility.
The US-based company is best known in the “mobile security space”. When they acquired the BlackBerry brand, their initial plan was to release a “new 5G BlackBerry Android smartphone with physical keyboard in the first half of 2021 in North America and Europe.”
And now that we’re already into the middle of the year, we still haven’t had any sightings of this “5G BlackBerry Android smartphone with a physical keyboard.” The good news though is that OnwardMobility has released a “Pre-Commitment Program” that will allow users to receive “product, feature, and availability updates” before the “general public” does.
This could be an indication that this mysterious device is nowhere near an official announcement. It’s also possible that OnwardMobility is trying to see just how many people will be interested in its project that will attempt to revive the BlackBerry model.
If you do decide to join the waitlist, however, you’ll be part of the first people to pre-order and receive the device. You’ll also get to “provide input to directly influence product features and functionality.” You can learn more about this program here.
Will you be interested in signing up?
