OnwardMobility, the Texas-based firm that picked up the hardware license for BlackBerry smartphones after previous licensee TCL decided to produce its own phone designs instead, has finally broken its almost year-long silence to announce that it is still alive.
“Contrary to popular belief, we are not dead,” wrote the company in a blog post on its website. It also apologized for its lack of communication and for the delay in shipping the phone it had promised by mid-2021.
“2021 was truly a challenging year to launch a new phone, much less one with the high expectations we set and the fact that we want to get it right!” it said. “While we encountered various delays that prevented us from shipping in 2021, we will be providing more regular updates starting this month that will clarify and answer many of your questions about the ultra-secure 5G enterprise smartphone (still with a keyboard!) we’re bringing to market.”
“All of us at OnwardMobility are incredibly grateful for the community of loyal users for this opportunity,” the post concluded. “We sincerely apologize for our silence and truly appreciate your patience. In the meantime, we wish everyone a healthy start to the New Year!”
No shipping date was announced, but it seems there is still hope that there will be a new BlackBerry with a physical keyboard in our future.