BlackBerry releases another Android smartphone, the DTEK60
TORONTO — BlackBerry Ltd.’s hardware business isn’t dead yet.
The Waterloo, Ont. mobile company Tuesday released its third Android powered smartphone, a higher-end touchscreen device that was already in the works before BlackBerry announced in September it would ditch its money-losing hardware development to focus on software.
The DTEK60 is an amped-up version of the DTEK50, a mid-range device billed as the “world’s most secure Android phone” upon its release three months ago. It will sell in Canada for $650 and in the U.S. for US$499.
Executives hope the DTEK60 will be just right for consumers who ignored BlackBerry’s first and second attempts at selling Android devices. CEO John Chen blamed disappointing sales for the Priv, the first Android BlackBerry released last fall, on its expensive price of US$699 at launch.
It’s not exactly clear how well the DTEK50 is selling (it’s priced at $429 and US$299) — it launched only weeks before the hardware division’s fate was sealed when it failed to break even on sales of 400,000 devices — but it appears security alone isn’t enough to spur sales. In an interview, BlackBerry’s senior vicepresident of global device sales Alex Thurber focused more on the DTEK60’s “market leading” specifications.
“The problem with selling security is when it works, nothing happens,” Thurber said. “At the end of the day we’re all consumers, and as exciting as the phone might be to a security person, the individual user has to want to use it as well.”
Like the DTEK50, the DTEK60 was built using a reference design from China’s TCL Corp. combined with BlackBerry’s software. Still, it’s just as secure as the DTEK50, Thurber said, pointing to the rapid security patching.
“They’re both the most secure,” he said, adding the main difference between the phones is the hardware, notably a fingerprint sensor and upgrades to the camera, screen and battery life. “It really is a slick phone.”
Thurber expects the DTEK60 will appeal to executives and “prosumers” compared to the DTEK50, which is more of a fleet device that major companies around the world are testing for their employees.
“I’m actually really excited about the price on this phone ... I think that makes it even more attractive to our users,” he said.
Thurber contends the DTEK60 compares very favourably to other high-end devices on the market, especially in the Android ecosystem. He said the timing of the launch has nothing to do with Samsung’s problems with the Galaxy Note 7, subject to a mass recall due to its propensity to catch fire.
“We were planning October all along,” Thurber said. “Certainly, the Samsung issues have raised the concerns about safety, something we’re absolutely focused on at BlackBerry.”
For those confused by the release of another BlackBerry despite the highly publicized death of its hardware business, Thurber said it’s all part of its transition to software. In the future, BlackBerry will license its brand to put on devices designed and made by other companies. (Thurber emphasized strict safety clauses in contracts with manufacturers.)
“What we announced really was getting out of the supply-chain business, but not at all out of the software business. At the end of the day, it’s the software that powers the phone,” he said.
There is still one more BlackBerry designed phone in the works — and the final one has a keyboard. This month Thurber told the BBC the keyboard model would be released within six months, but he declined to comment on unreleased products.
“We know that there is a huge customer base and lots of interest in our physical keyboard phones. We definitely are aware of that and keeping that in mind, but we’re not releasing more information on our roadmap.”