BlackBerry launches new smartphone
In a bid to once again make its struggling hardware business profitable, BlackBerry is launching a new smartphone billed as the most secure Android device available.
The company announced the launch Tuesday of the DTEK50, a phone it hopes will appeal to “everyone” due to the insidious threat that mobile security risks now pose to the public at large.
“We feel that customers today, certainly businesses and consumers, are beginning to understand just how important security is when it comes to their smartphone,” said Alex Thurber, senior vice-president of global device sales, during a webcast from BlackBerry’s headquarters in Waterloo, Ont.
Everyone should be aware of security and privacy, whether they’re the CEO of a Fortune 500 company or a parent, he said.
BlackBerry ( said the DTEK50 has been designed to fend off cyberattacks with features such as built-in malware protection and encryption of all user information. In addition, it provides the ability to see and control which apps are allowed access to features like the phone’s camera.
The new product is also BlackBerry’s thinnest and has an on-screen keyboard - not its traditional keyboard.
The DTEK50 will retail for C$429, a sign that the company may have learned from the sales flop of its first Android-powered phone, the Priv. At a cost of C$899 without a carrier contract, the Priv was released late last year and at the time, it was the most expensive Android phone on the market.
While BlackBerry hasn’t disclosed Priv phone sales, its most recent quarterly results released a month ago showed the company sold 500,000 smartphones in total (including the Priv). That’s a drop of 100,000 over the previous quarter and 200,000 fewer than two quarters earlier.
“We’re very confident that from a product perspective this will sell very well,” Thurber said of the DTEK50, whose name is derived from a feature on the Priv that informs users of their device security status and how to improve it.