MONTREAL (Web Desk) – BlackBerry, the Canadian firm that helped pioneer the smartphone market, is to stop designing its own smartphones after falling behind rivals firms including Apple and Samsung.
The firm said Wednesday that it will stop making handsets, outsourcing production to an Indonesian partner.
The company, famous for making phones with a physical keyboard, has struggled to keep pace with rival companies and the growing popularity of touch screen technology.
“We are reaching an inflection point with our strategy. Our financial foundation is strong, and our pivot to software is taking hold,” said chief executive John Chen, pointing to a doubling of software revenue in the last fiscal year.
“The company plans to end all internal hardware development and will outsource that function to partners. This allows us to reduce capital requirements and enhance return on invested capital.”
The Waterloo, Ontario-based company has made several efforts in recent years to find new customer niches as its smartphone handset sales continued to stagnate in the face of competition.
It had hoped its first Android-operating smartphone launched last year would help restore the company to its former glory.
