BlackBerry CEO: Partners Will Make Devices With Keyboard

Smartphones under the BlackBerry name will continue to be released with a physical keyboard. That’s what the director of Canadian software maker John Chen said. BlackBerry has stopped developing its own smartphones.

BlackBerry is looking for partner companies that design, manufacture and distribute the devices, bearing the name and the secure Android release that BlackBerry makes. BlackBerry itself stops designing its own smartphones.

Smartphones will arrive under the brand name with a physical keyboard, Chen told Canada’s BNN. He did not elaborate on who will make them and whether they will get a keyboard designed by BlackBerry.

Smartphones with a physical keyboard have become a rarity. The Priv from BlackBerry itself is the most recent high-end Android device with a physical keyboard. Until six years ago, smartphones with physical keyboards were very common. BlackBerry has always prided itself on its fast text input via physical keyboards.

Read a background story about BlackBerry stopping with its own hardware here.