If the BlackBerry wants to survive as a consumer product, there’s one thing it really can’t live without: retail distribution.
That’s why the announcement by T-Mobile, the U.S.’s fourth largest wireless carrier, that it will no longer be carrying the BlackBerry in its stores is the clearest sign yet that the BlackBerry’s days as a consumer device are over.
Carey said there was no point to carrying the phones in store, as they were mostly being bought by corporate customers.
It’s a move BlackBerry may have seen coming. Last Friday, as the company announced it’s chopping 4,500 staff, the company also said it would no longer market its products to consumers, and focus on corporate clients.
The decision was met with more than a little cynicism among observers. Citing analysts, Reuters described it as “a desperate move that ... will only accelerate [BlackBerry’s] downward spiral.”
BlackBerry also announced it’s cancelling its customary earnings conference call, which had been scheduled for Friday, in light of the purchase offer from Fairfax Financial Holdings.
Fairfax, run by billionaire Prem Watsa, announced on Monday it has offered $4.7 billion U.S. for the smartphone maker, or about $9 U.S. per share.
The Globe and Mail reported Wednesday that Fairfax is looking for partners to help it raise $1 billion towards its bid for BlackBerry. Bloomberg News reports that two of Canada’s largest pension funds — the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and the Alberta Investment Management Corp. — are in talks with Fairfax.
But the pension funds are apparently only interested buying parts of BlackBerry, not the company as a whole. They’re interested in BlackBerry’s secure server unit and other parts of the company geared towards corporate clients, Bloomberg reported.
BlackBerry shares climbed higher on Thursday as investors digested reassurances from Fairfax’s Watsa that he has every intention of completing the acquisition of the smartphone maker.
The Waterloo, Ont.-based company's stock lifted 19 cents to $8.45 in morning trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Late Wednesday, Watsa told The Associated Press his firm is not in the business of making an offer and then walking away or redoing the deal.
Those comments appeared to quell some of the concerns that a solid Fairfax deal would never materialize because few other financial backers were willing to join the proposed $4.7-billion transaction.
— With files from The Canadian Press
Evolution Of BlackBerry
RIM Inter@ctive Pager 950 (1998)(01 of11)
Open Image ModalThe RIM Inter@ctive Pager 950 was one of the first true BlackBerry devices. Released in 1998 it looks more like a large pager - because that's exactly what it was. But it could also handle messages up to 16,000 characters, and came with an Intel 386 processor - which was pretty good at the time. Oh, and it ran for almost a month on a single AA battery. Take that, iPhone. It cost $350 at launch.
RIM 957 Wireless Handheld (2000)(02 of11)
Open Image ModalThe RIM 957 Wireless Handheld was introduced in April 2000, and was described as a "breakthrough palm sized wireless handheld". It gave users access to the Internet, email, pager and organiser functions, with a 32 bit Intel 386 processor and 5MB of flash memory. It was the first device to offer 'always on" performance, and sold for about $500.
BlackBerry 5810 (2002)(03 of11)
Open Image ModalThe first true 'BlackBerry' was the 5810 - and it was also the first to include Voice Calls. That's right - the earlier devices weren't even phones, making this the first truly integrated phone-organiser-email-thingy. It was expensive - $749 - but could do just about most of the same things a basic smartphone can do today.
Blackberry 7230(04 of11)
Open Image ModalOne of the most famous - even iconic - BlackBerry devices ever was the classic blue Blackberry 7230, which came with a 65k colour screen instead of the old monochrome versi0on, as well as 16MB of storage and a battery with up to 240 hours of stand-by. It sold for about $400 at the time, and featured a full QWERTY keyboard.
'SureType' BlackBerry(05 of11)
Open Image ModalThe BlackBerry 7100 series featured the company's first models without a full keyboard, instead opting for the T9 'SureType' system familiar from other mobiles. The phones were popular with the mass-market as they looked and were sized similar to normal phones,. They were marketed to consumers for about $200.
BlackBerry 8700 (2005)(06 of11)
Open Image ModalThe BlackBerry 8700 was the first of its handhelds to use high-speed internet via EDGE. It offered much faster browsing and came with a QVGA 320 by 240-pixels screen, as well as Bluetooth support and 64mb of Flash memory.
BlackBerry Pearl (2006)(07 of11)
Open Image ModalThe Pearl was at the time the smallest BlackBerry ever released. It weighed just over 3 pounds and cost just $200 with a two-year contract. It was the first BlackBerry to come with a camera and a microSD slot.
BlackBerry Curve (2007)(08 of11)
Open Image ModalThe BlackBerry Curve 8300 came with a camera, a 3.5 headphone jack and a full QWERTY keyboard. It was pretty cheap - $200 on contract - but looked more like a high-end professional device.
BlackBerry Bold (2008)(09 of11)
Open Image ModalThe BlackBerry Bold is in some ways the ultimate BlackBerry - sleek, dark, with a full QWERTY keyboard and support for 3G networks, 1GB of memory and a higher-resolution display, it pretty much opitimises what the BlackBerry was all about.
BlackBerry Storm (2008)(10 of11)
Open Image ModalThe Storm was BlackBerry's first phone without a keyboard, and it launched to mixed reviews. It was clear that RIM's software wasn't able to keep up with the current crop of devices, and that BlackBerry needed a relaunch. That wouldn't happen until 2013.
BlackBerry Torch (2010)(11 of11)
Open Image ModalThe BlackBerry torch was pitched as the first "elite" consumer offering from RIM. It's slider form factor, full keyboard and touchscreen placed it as the mid point between and iPhone and an old school Blackberry, but for reviewers it wasn't able to do either job well and it failed to gain much attention.