BlackBerry Mobile declares it accomplished its mission with 2017 unit sales

BlackBerry Mobile, a subsidiary of TCL Group has sold 850,000 BlackBerrys in 2017 as per IDC. Mostly focused on the KEYOne and some initial Motion models, this figure may seem insignificantly small to some but the company said it has accomplished its mission of putting the brand back on the map on an interview with The Verge.

BlackBerry devices are available in 50 countries and sold by 110 carriers, they don't just appeal to BlackBerry loyalists or new users seeking differentiation, they are resonant with users who want the Android experience but also crave security and privacy as built-in features. BlackBerry Mobile has indicated it will bring two new models to market this year, we also expect variants of the KEYOne and Motion to continue in countries where these devices are selling well.

Source: The Verge

BlackBerry unveils Jarvis, security software solution for self-driving cars

With the pressure to create compelling mobile phone solutions out of the way, thanks largely to the stellar continuity provided by TCL Corporation's purchase and continuing of the BlackBerry handset division, BlackBerry can focus on developing security software designed around the surging self-driving car market.

Named Jarvis, a possible tip of the hat to the british-accented A.I. that assists Iron Man, the jarvis from BlackBerry is a digital watchdog. Jarvis will assist automakers with the safety backups needed to desigm effective and safe autonomous driving solutions. Various carmakers (Tesla, Cadillac) already ship cars with autonomous driving features, these are still subject to regulations and in many cases are undergoing strict compliance testing.

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CES 2018: BlackBerry Motion coming to US, KEYOne Bronze Edition added in 2018

TCL Communication has remained steady with its portfolio of true to character BlackBerry devices. good news here are CES 2018 is that there will be two new smartphones coming in 2018. The BlackBerry Motion, which is the robust all-screen model we saw late last year, is coming to the US market starting on January 12.

The impressive BlackBerry KEYOne will soon have a Bronze Edition to join the original silver and space black variants. A Dual-SIM version is also slated for the KEYOne hitting global markets and TCL promises imminent Android 8.0 Oreo updates for the line.

WhatsApp to end support for BlackBerry OS and Windows Phone by the end of the year

With 2017 ending in just a few days, WhatsApp just announced its ending support for two old operating systems on December 31: the BlackBerry OS and Windows Phone 8.0. For BlackBerry, that includes BlackBerry 10, while Windows Phone encompasses the older iterations. While the app will still function on those platforms, without support this means some features might stop functioning suddenly. You also won’t be able to create new accounts or re-verify existing ones. The Facebook-owned messaging service is encouraging users to upgrade to other support platforms to make sure they get the service they can expect from WhatsApp. But they also remind users that they can’t transfer chat histories from one platform to another, but you can export and send your chat history attached to an email.

Source: VentureBeat