For the last couple of years or more, the demise of Blackberry as a software platform has been forecast by pundits and the public alike. Given that last year, BlackBerry released the Priv running a modified version of Android, many were left to speculate that perhaps the company had finally given up on its BB10 software products.
In an interview last week, CEO John Chen finally confirmed what many people had been repeating for a long time, that the company has no current plans to release a new BlackBerry OS smartphone. Chen did say that the platform would be supported by BlackBerry for at least two more years, but given that Whatsapp and Facebook have already said they will be ending support for BB10, the platform is already lagging behind.
This news comes as BlackBerry has also informally announced it plans to release two mid-range Android phones this year, saying that the $700 USD Priv was just too expensive.
[source]The National[/source]
