latest
BlackBerry's 'legacy' mobile patents just sold for a staggering $600 million
New company isn't saying how much trolling it'll do with them
BlackBerry has sold its remaining cache of mobile-related patents to a consortium of companies under the name Catapult IP Innovations Inc. for a princely sum of $600 million. The company largely exited the mobile business in 2017 after failing to turn its Priv slider — and a pivot to Android — into a sustainable source of revenue. After shutting down its legacy BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry 10 services in early January, it is now ridding itself of the last vestiges of what made it a mobile powerhouse between 1998 and 2011, when it dominated the market with its keyboard-first smartphones.
It's all too easy to get caught up in the hype surrounding new phones. Maybe you're excited for Google's Pixel 6 and its Whitechapel chip, or you're dying to get your hands on Samsung's latest stylus-friendly foldable. Regardless of your personal preference, there are all sorts of devices ready to launch over the next few months. But forget all of them — they're old news. We know what you're really looking for: keyboards, 5G, and one of the hottest brands from the 2000s. That's right, folks — another BlackBerry phone is still in the works.
A new BlackBerry phone with 5G and a hardware keyboard is set to launch next year
The brand name has been picked from the vine by yet another licensee
BlackBerry phones experienced a resurgence in 2016 when TCL became the exclusive global hardware manufacturer for its devices. The KeyOne and Key2 were solid options for customers crazy for physical keyboards, and it was satisfying to see the historic brand sticking around. Earlier this year brought some dire news for the future of the brand, as TCL ended the partnership entirely. Now it looks like BlackBerry is sprouting from the ground once more with a new 5G device from a new partner.