Some time ago, the BlackBerry 5G phone was reportedly canceled. Now the news is official after its developer, OnwardMobility, announced that it would be out of business.
The closure of the OnwardMobility business was announced via a blog on its official website. They did not explain further why the company was shut down and the launch of the BlackBerry 5G phone was cancelled.
"It is with great sadness that we announce that OnwardMobility will be closing, and we will not continue to develop ultra-secure phones with physical keyboards," OnwardMobility wrote in its announcement, as quoted by Cnet, Saturday (19/2/2022).
"Please be aware that this is not a decision we took lightly or hastily. We are as disappointed as you are and we can assure you this is not the result we were trying and hoping for."
AndroidPolice and Crackberry previously reported that development of BlackBerry 5G phones was canceled because OnwardMobility lost its license to use the BlackBerry name. BlackBerry CEO John Chen is reportedly reluctant to see the BlackBerry name used on other phones.
OnwardMobility first announced the BlackBerry 5G project in 2020 with a launch target in 2021. After the launch target was missed, OnwardMobility said that the project was not dead and admitted that there were several problems that prevented them from launching the phone in 2021.
Since rumors of a BlackBerry 5G phone circulated, OnwardMobility has also never disclosed the specifications or form of its mobile phone. They just say the phone will use the same design as the BlackBerry Priv, complete with a physical keyboard and slider design, as well as 5G support.
This news comes a month after BlackBerry discontinued support for the BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry 10 operating systems, which are still widely used by older phones. This Canadian company also recently sold patents related to cellphones and BlackBerry Messenger for Rp. 8.6 trillion.
Prior to OnwardMobility, BlackBerry had licensed the use of its brand to TCL. The Chinese vendor released the BlackBerry KeyTwo in 2018, as well as two other devices running Android.