BlackBerry to let go of 200 jobs in Ontario and Florida

In an effort to trim costs, BlackBerry is letting go of 200 jobs in its hometown headquarters in Ontario and Florida. This new round of layoffs with affect 75 manufacturing jobs in Sunrise, Florida, according to a state government site. Meanwhile, it’s rumoured that a lot of the job cuts in Canada involve people who are working on the BB10 device software. Gary Klassen, one of the company’s longest-tenured employees and the inventor of the BBM messaging service, is also leaving the company with this latest rounded of cuts.

BlackBerry won’t divulge the percentage of its workforce that has been affected by this latest round of layoffs. The Canadian company is trying to turn its fortunes around by putting its focus in its enterprise software business. BlackBerry let go of around 200 staff members back in September. The employees who were laid off then worked on the design and hardware of BB10 devices. But a spokeswoman for BlackBerry assures its users that they will still release updates for its BB10 software.

Source: Reuters

BlackBerry looks to focus on Android handsets for 2016

Updated on Wednesday, February 3, 2016 at 10:41AM by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

After BlackBerry CEO John Chen confirmed that the company would only release two Android powered devices in 2016 behind the perceived success of the BlackBerry PRIV, Damian Tay, BlackBerry’s senior director of product management in Asia Pacific all but confirmed that BB10-powered BlackBerry devices are no longer a priority and are seen as transitory devices. “The future is really Android,” Tay said in an interview with Economic Time India.

“The PRIV device is essentially our transition to Android ecosystem. As we secure Android, over a period of time, we would not have two platforms, and may have only Android as a platform [for smartphones],” Damian Tay said. “But for now, we have BB10 and Android platforms for our smartphones.”

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New BlackBerry BB10 handsets Passport and Classic are unapologetically enterprise focused

Image from Crackberry.com

The future of BlackBerry is enterprise and nowhere is this clearer than in the design of their upcoming devices called Classic and Passport. Many consider the BlackBerry Bold line of years past to be the nadir of BlackBerry device design and there's no denying the enduring appeal of the 9900, its stylish lines, leather accents and inlaid frets were  cohesive, purposeful and meant business. Well, that look is back with the Classic and more surprisingly, the Passport which at first glance looks like a Symbian phone but upon closer inspection is a BlackBerry through and through. Interesting to note that BlackBerry has relegated the only full touchscreen device, the Z3, to the more consumer oriented 'emerging markets' segment, namely in Indonesia. What do you think of the Classic and the Passport? Are these smartphones you can see in your future?

BlackBerry promo offers free apps to BB10 users in Canada

BlackBerry is showing some hometown love with an exclusive promo for the local BlackBerry 10 users. BB10 users can download up to $25 worth of premium apps for free. This promo running until October 31 works for BlackBerry Z10, Q10, and Q5 devices.

The eligible apps include Blaq, SlickTasks, Photo Studio Pro, World of Goo, Gadget Box, Asphalt 7: Heat, and Modern Combat 4. You can redeem this offer by entering the promo code "fallapps" in BlackBerry World.