End of the Blackberry?

IT was once the go-to phone handset for professionals and at its height had 85m users worldwide.

But after 14 years in the mobile business, Blackberry is to stop designing its own smartphones.

The embattled company will focus on creating software rather than the devices themselves. Blackberry reached its peak in September 2013 with 85m users, but numbers fell to 23m in March this year.

The Canadian company’s second-quarter results yesterday showed net losses of £286m against profits of £39m a year earlier.

Revenues slumped by 31.8pc to £257m. Its total half-year net loss was £799m.