There was a time when everyone (or almost) wanted to own a BlackBerry, and when the Canadian brand was a key player in the mobile market. But that time, today, is far behind us. And soon, we will be able to watch a film on the history of this one.
In a recently published article, the site Variety a new film from the director of The Dirties and Operation Avalanche, Matt Johnson, titled “BlackBerry”. According to this media, this film details the rise as well as the debacle of the Canadian brand which, let us remember, failed to maintain its place on the mobile market in the face of competition from the iPhone and Android devices.
Among the actors, there will be Jay Baruchel (This is The End, Knocked Up), as well as Glenn Howerton (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, AP Organic). The details of this film have not yet been announced, but it would be very likely that these two actors play the co-founders of BlackBerry, Mike Lazardis and Jim Balsillie.
Variety also indicates that the film is inspired by the book released in 2015, titled Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry. This bestseller was written by two journalists from the Canadian media The Globe and Mail: Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff. The production would already be finished.
In the 2010s, when Android and iOS were becoming the dominant platforms, BlackBerry tried to cope by offering a new modern operating system: BlackBerry 10. But this did not have the expected success, the brand Canadian also tried its luck by releasing an Android device, the BlackBerry Priv presented in 2015.
The BlackBerry story continues until now
Unfortunately, BlackBerry ended up abandoning the smartphone market in 2016. However, BlackBerry-branded smartphones continued to circulate as the company signed a licensing agreement with manufacturer TCL, which designed and marketed devices under the Canadian brand. .
The agreement with TCL ended in 2020. But another company, called Onward Mobility, wanted to resurrect the BlackBerry brand once again. However, the project was abandoned even before the release of the first smartphone, which was supposed to be a 5G device.
As for the BlackBerry company, it still exists, but has specialized in other areas. Moreover, at the beginning of the year, it sold for 600 million dollars the patents that it deemed non-essential.
“Patents essential to BlackBerry’s current business operations are excluded from the transaction. BlackBerry will license the patents sold, which primarily relate to mobile devices, messaging and wireless networking. This transaction will not impact customers’ use of BlackBerry products, solutions or services.”we read in the press release.
At the end of 2021, BlackBerry also announced the end of support for its old mobiles.
