‘The BlackBerry DNA remains very much in place’

Continued from FP1

TCL manufactured the previous two BlackBerry devices, the DTEK50 and DTEK60, before it signed the final licensing agreement in December. BlackBerry pitched these as the most secure devices in the world.

“We have worked closely with TCL to build security and the BlackBerry experience into every layer of KEYone, so the BlackBerry DNA remains very much in place,” BlackBerry mobility solutions senior vicepresident Alex Thurber said in the statement.

TCL and BlackBerry started hyping the KEYone, code-named Mercury, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, sending out teaser videos of the keyboard to entice diehard fans.

The KEYone’s launch comes as BlackBerry’s share of the global smartphone market plummeted to 0.0 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to Gartner, a technology research firm.

Approximately 207,900 BlackBerry units were sold last quarter, Gartner reported, which amounts to 0.00048 per cent of the global market now dominated by Android (81.7 per cent) followed by Apple’s iOS (17.9 per cent).

BlackBerry no longer reveals its quarterly smartphone sales since it is “not focused on cellphones,” CEO John Chen said in December.

Still, Chen had been hinting at the release of a final phone with a keyboard since summer 2016 when he admitted the Priv — the last BlackBerry device with a keyboard — sold poorly because it was too expensive.

The Priv’s original price tag was US$700, but the KEYone is available through preorder for US$549, according to TCL’s announcement.

The KEYone’s keyboard features a fingerprint sensor built into the space bar for security. It also includes BlackBerry security features and Qualcomm’s mobile platform and quick charge technology. It will be available globally in April.