Its no secret that BlackBerry smartphones haven’t been performing well in the market. Last year the company launched four BlackBerry 10 devices, all of which failed to make a mark. Since then there has been major reshuffling at the company and there’s now a new regime, working under CEO John Chen to stabilize and hopefully turn around the company. Yesterday it unveiled the Z3, a smartphone developed in collaboration with Foxconn, destined for emerging markets. Chen teased the Q20 yesterday, and has also hinted at yet another flagship that will hopefully poach customers from its rivals.
The Q20 has simply been positioned as a device that would appeal to the BlackBerry faithful. It brings back the trackpad and physical back, menu and call keys. With a larger display and software that brings back features from the past, Chen believes that BB loyals on legacy devices wouldn’t hesitate making the shift as they’ll be more comfortable with this particular device.
Speaking with CNET, Chen also hinted that the company is developed another BlackBerry flagship smartphone which will be aimed towards customers currently on rival platforms, such as iOS and Android. He didn’t go into much detail about this flagship, so its unclear if it will have a full QWERTY keyboard or just one big touchscreen. Chen also doesn’t guarantee a launch within the year, but tells the scribe that there’s a strong chance it will.
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