During a webcast broadcast just after the reveal of BlackBerry’s new DTEK60, a higher-end version of its DTEK50, the company’s COO Marty Beard reiterated that the DTEK60 will not be the company’s final smartphone.
Beard says that BlackBerry will continue to “work with more partners” in terms of launching additional Android devices, though refrained from delving into specifics regarding upcoming devices.
Beard also alluded to the fact that BlackBerry is not abandoning the QWERTY keyboard, an antiquated method of interacting with a smartphone that many loyal fans of the brand continue to be fond of.
He continued by emphasizing that BlackBerry believes the $650 DTEK60 is capable of standing up with Google’s recently release Pixel and Pixel XL as well as Apple’s iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
In conjunction with its second-quarter results last month, BlackBerry revealed that it will no longer manufacturer devices in-house, instead opting to focus on software, one of the beleaguered company’s remaining strengths.
Beard cites a recent partnership BlackBerry has forged with PT Telekomunikasi, an Indonesian wireless carrier, to produce, promote and distribute BlackBerry-branded devices, as an example of what future BlackBerry devices will look like.
BlackBerry only sold 400,000 devices in its fiscal second quarter, down from 500,000 in its first quarter and 600,000 in the prior quarter.
The TCL manufactured DTEK60 is priced at $650 CAD unlocked and features a 5.5-inch 2560 x 1440 pixel display, Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of expandable storage, 3,000mAh battery, fingerprint sensor, and a 21-megapixel back facing camera with an 8 megapixel front-facing shooter.
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