A rumored BlackBerry device has been making its way around the web for long enough now that it hardly qualifies as a rumor. Since June, we've seen leaked promotional photos and videos. We've seen photos of it in the wild. We've seen hands-on footage. And then yesterday we heard that its name would be not the Venice, as previous expected, but Priv.

Today, BlackBerry offered confirmation. While reporting financial results for 2016's second quarter (the three months ending August 29th 2015), CEO John Chen confirmed plans to launch Priv. The name was apparently born from the company's focus on privacy.

"At the same time, we are focused on making faster progress to achieve profitability in our handset business. Today, I am confirming our plans to launch Priv, an Android device named after BlackBerry's heritage and core mission of protecting our customers' privacy. Priv combines the best of BlackBerry security and productivity with the expansive mobile application ecosystem available on the Android platform."

—BlackBerry CEO John Chen

UPDATE: 2015/09/25 8:18am PDT BY

BlackBerry has further outlined its vision for the Priv on its blog, along with providing a logo (pictured above). In short, BlackBerry sees now as a good time to release a phone that emphasizes privacy and security.

So why is it important that we extend to Android? Launching an Android device is a tremendous new market opportunity as we continue our focus on building a cross-platform strategy. It’s a terrific proposition for dedicated Android users who are seeking greater productivity and powerful privacy features. And we are advancing our own platform, redefining the expectations of mobility in today’s age of risk and cybercrime so that we can serve customers even better.

BlackBerry is pitching the device as a way to offer "best in class security" for enterprise customers. It intends to make the device available later this year in major markets both in-stores and online.

BlackBerry went on to add that this release does not mark the end of its own mobile operating system. It intends to provide platform updates for BlackBerry 10, with version 10.3.3 scheduled to hit in March of next year.

PRESS RELEASE

Source: BlackBerry BlogBlackBerry PR