In 2021, the startup OnwardMobility will introduce a 5G smartphone under the BlackBerry brand . The gadget will receive a traditional hardware QWERTY keyboard and data encryption. A partner has already been found who will assemble the device.
All this became possible thanks to the signing of an agreement by OnwardMobility with BlackBerry and Foxconn subsidiary FIH Mobile Limited. The smartphone will run on Android, and North America and Europe are identified as sales regions.
OnwardMobility explains that there will be buyers for the new BlackBerry. This can be, for example, corporate users working remotely. For them, there is a constant threat of data loss due to targeted cyber attacks. The startup plans to create a productive and secure phone that will help increase the efficiency of employees and at the same time reliably protect all data. However, the characteristics of the future device are still unknown.
The startup positions itselfas a developer of "productive, secure and convenient mobile devices for corporate clients - from government to private companies." “BlackBerry smartphones are known to be highly secure in terms of communication and storage. This is an incredible opportunity for OnwardMobility to bring a 5G device to market with support from BlackBerry and FIH Mobile, ”Franklin said.
This is what the BlackBerry Priv looks like, one of the latest BlackBerry attempts in the smartphone market.
OnwardMobility has officially licensed the brand name only. As Franklin explained, the startup will work with BlackBerry to carry out pre-project activities for the new smartphone and market analysis. And the development and assembly of the device will be the prerogative of FIH Mobile. The startup's CEO did not elaborate on the transfer of patents from the current copyright holder, but the announcement of a physical keyboard indirectly confirms this.
As a reminder, BlackBerry stopped manufacturing smartphones in 2016. Experts said the reason for the failure was too long work on its own operating system, which was initially inferior in characteristics to Android and iOS. In the same year, the Canadian company transferred the title and patents for the keyboard to the Chinese TLC. However, the new copyright holder did not launch smartphones, limiting himself to tablets with an authentic QWERTY keyboard. The agreement between TLC and BlackBerry expires in August this year, which allowed OnwardMobility to buy out the rights to the brand.
FIH Mobile already has experience in building and assembling smartphones. The company worked on Nokia devices from the Finnish HDM Global. And the parent company Foxconn produces the iPhone.